Confession: I am a Little House fanatic. I am -- and anyone can vouch for this -- wearing a covered wagon charm around my neck, I perk up at the thought of "vanity cakes," De Smet is a location ...

One book we had unpacked, though, was “Little House in the Big Woods,” by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and it was that volume I reached for when he told me that, yes, he would like me to read aloud.

Though not every detail was strictly autobiographical, Little House in the Big Woods was the true story of its author, Laura Ingalls Wilder, who was born on February 7, 1867, and died on February ...