Search - West from Home: Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, San Francisco, 1915

First Line: Dearest Mama Bess-- I simply can't stand being so homesick for you any more.

When I was six, my mother handed me Little House in the Big Woods, and I never looked back. I still love Laura Ingalls Wilder's tales of her childhood and still get the giggles when I think of the mouse giving Pa a bald spot. When I ran across this book at Paperback Swap, I thought it was time for a Half Pint Fix.

Laura's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, became a journalist and moved to California. Rose became very homesick for her mother and finally saved up the money for Laura to board a train and come for a visit. Laura's visit coincided with San Francisco's World's Fair celebrating the opening of the Panama Canal. This book contains the letters Laura wrote home to her husband, Almanzo during her stay.

I loved this book for its glimpse into a San Francisco that had just rebuilt itself after the 1906 earthquake, and for its insights into Laura the adventurer, Laura the woman who was thinking about starting to write, Laura the mother, and Laura the wife who never stopped worrying about her husband alone on their farm in Missouri. This is a book for all those, like me, who have fond memories of Little Houses.

Delightful descriptions of SF and the great Panama-Pacific International Exposition as only Laura Ingalls Wilder could write it.

This is a collection of letters that Laura and Rose sent to Almanzo while they were in San Francisco. It was nice to read about life there at the time and the lovely descriptions Laura wrote. I have a feeling this was all before she even wrote her books, in which you can see the way Rose prepared her mother to write while there.

Quick fun read! I finished this in 3 nights! i don't know if my young children would enjoy it as much as i did. book is in 'letter form" and it was fun to read the letters Laura transcribed to Manly (Almanzo) about her trip west to California to visit Rose. Lots of history and the letters really do a great job describing living conditions during that time period.

Short but interesting read, geared more for preteen readers. I read it because I enjoyed reading the Little House series of books when I was younger.