ORLEANS— Learn about Laura Ingalls Wilder, pioneer and author of Little House on the Prairie books. Glenda Ferguson will present a program for all ages that explores the facts and fiction of Laura’s childhood as a pioneer and how the author came to write her books.
The event will be held on Tuesday, April 23 from 3:45 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. at the Orleans Public Library.
Glenda Ferguson, a retired teacher from Paoli, grew up in Chamois, Missouri, and graduated from College of the Ozarks and Indiana University/Bloomington. While teaching fourth grade at Mitchell Community Schools, she received a Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship for her project “A Little House Journey,” traveling across the Midwest to all the places where Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family lived. She documented her travels with a daily journal, photographs, and postcards, which will be included in her display.
During her presentation, Glenda will show photos of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum sites, including those in Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, and Missouri. The audience can participate in an impromptu “Pioneer Girl” reader’s theater.
Laura Ingalls Wilder published her “Little House” books between 1932 and 1943, which told about her and the rest of the Ingalls family living as pioneers in unsettled territories. When Laura married Almanzo Wilder, they bought land in southern Missouri. She stayed on the property for the rest of her life, living by the same principles she wrote and discussed: “The real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.”
