I've been looking for chapter books to start reading with Mimi. Finn is so easy, he'll read just about anything with you, but Mim is a bit less patient. It's got to be GOOD. Then I remembered, somewhere I had the entire series of Little House books, in a collectors box, gift from Gran Christmas of '86. Of course, I hated the tv series, but I loved these books. I even remember that cover, with Laura just adoring her new doll.
"It'll be wholesome," I thought, "With wholesome mother-daughter bonding, and simple adventures. Perfect for a four year old." Chapter One starts out simple enough, describing life in the log cabin with trees everywhere. It's all nice and cozy until Laura looks out the window one morning and sees two dead deer hanging from the big oak trees in front of the house. "What?!" says Esme.
I kept reading. They butcher a hog. Then a wagon of fish, some as big as Laura. Then there's some lovely garden harvesting. Then, Pa shoots a bear that has just killed a pig. Seriously. I thought it was about time to put down the Big House for a little while and talk about all the killing going on in the Woods there. We chatted about Daddy not liking to kill animals, ("But he goes to the grocery store.") and about refrigerators ("Grandpa kills meat.") until I was quite certain she was just fine. (ha!)
Not five minutes after we finished the chapter, here is what I heard out of those two:
"Cut this bear up into plump slices and hang it in the attic! We can store it there 'til we're ready to eat it this winter."
"Yeah, I just caught this grizzly bear and now I need to skin it."
