Little House on the Prairie

amother

Goldenrod

Mon, Dec 05 2016, 11:36 am

My son (11 yrs old) is asking me to get him the Little House on the Prairie series from the library. I am very careful with his reading material since he has a very inquisitive mind. Does anyone know if these books are acceptable for a yeshiva boy? Are there inappropriate chapters?

mommy3b2c

Mon, Dec 05 2016, 12:07 pm

There absolutely no inappropriate chapters. The first 6 books are completely kosher. The last three may have a scene or two where he kisses her. Very formal. If I remember correctly she says, "you may now kiss me." And he does. I personally would have no problem with my 10 year old son reading them. Husbands and wives should kiss and I want him to know that.

sequoia

Mon, Dec 05 2016, 12:10 pm

Well they were engaged at the time.

And in an earlier scene, when they had just started dating, he tries to hug her and she makes the horses run away so he has to restrain them Smile

Anyway, they are beautiful books and you should be glad your kid wants to read them! It means he has a great attention span.

dee's mommy

Mon, Dec 05 2016, 3:31 pm

Another issue is the racism in the book. It's there in Little House on the Prairie against the Native Americans (which, as I was reading it to my daughter, I had to explain Ma's fear and the question of whether the Ingalls had a right to settle on the land, and how the Native Americans were mistreated and so forth.

In a later book there is a minstrel show that is performed by the townspeople, including Pa including a very questionable song. (I couldn't bring myself to even read it to my daughter, even though she is perfectly capable of reading it herself. I tried my best to explain to her why it is unacceptable.

There are also various songs throughout the books, including religious songs, which may be of concern.

Having said that, I do read these to my eight year old, and she does read them on her own. I think it is important to keep talking about these issues as your child reads it, or you read it to them, but on the whole, I will say that these are classics for a reason.

BetsyTacy

Mon, Dec 05 2016, 3:50 pm

The fear of Native Americans was an important part of life on the prairies, especially after the Dakota War of 1862 (then known as the Sioux uprising). Not to include it would have been ridiculous. Minstrels were a part of Americana, although clearly not as important.

All books have the racisim of their times. The Anne of Green Gables books have many characters who describe the French Canadians as lazy. The peddler who sold the famous hair dye was suspected of being Italian, but turned out to be a German Jew. One character in a later book (Rainbow Valley) claims she works like a n*** for her adoptive family but says so in a proud way that she now deserves a good life for all the work she provides.

Do I love these parts? No, but without them you have a completely sanitized version of history. As it is both of these series are historical fiction, but they need to be put in the context in which the authors lived and wrote.

LHOTP is extremely chaste. One kiss upon engagment? So you can tell him that's not what yidden do, but I hope it won't rock his world.

Notsobusy

Mon, Dec 05 2016, 4:26 pm

My dd just brought home Little House on the Prairie from her school library....and there were pages cut out! We were all shocked, I grew up reading this series, read all of them multiple times and so did my kids. From what I can tell, I think the cut out pages were about x-mas, which is ridiculous IMHO, but I guess maybe they have to make sure none of the parents get upset Rolling Eyes

Betsytacy, I completely I agree with you. How else are our kids supposed to learn the history of this country? We can't pretend that wasn't what happened, people were terrified of Native Americans and they were racist.

trixx

Mon, Dec 05 2016, 5:01 pm

BetsyTacy wrote:

cannot like this enough.

SixOfWands

Mon, Dec 05 2016, 5:18 pm

BetsyTacy wrote:

This is something that public schools have been struggling with -- IMNSHO unsuccessfully -- for some time. Just a couple of days ago, a Virginia school district pulled copies of “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from classrooms and libraries after complaints and the use of racial slurs, and is contemplating a permanent ban.

No, the use of these words, and some of the prevailing sentiments, were not our finest hours. But children need to understand the historical context.

mommy3b2c

Mon, Dec 05 2016, 7:34 pm

SixOfWands wrote:

That's terrible. I think huckleberry Finn can teach so much about the horrors of slavery and prejudice through satire. There is a part where Huck is considering turning Jim in to the authorities but he decides not to do it "even if he'll go to hell." So much discussion can be started and used to teach from that one paragraph alone.

amother

Copper

Mon, Dec 05 2016, 7:42 pm

My very chassidish DH grew up reading them and loved it. Obviously his mom hid the golden years one but he found it and read it - no harm done!
I'm trying to get my bookworm 10yo into reading it but it doesn't pull him. He liked the Maple Ridge series more.
Maybe I'll read to him the first one to get him more interested.

eschaya

Mon, Dec 05 2016, 8:26 pm

I love these books and think they are great books for all kids to read. Beautiful middos, they teach really good hashkafos. Dh used to say that they can be read as Musser seforim, ie after papa works so hard to build their home and then they found out its on land that belongs to the govt (I think, don't remember the details), so they don't complain but just pick up, move, and start to build again.

Ruchel

Tue, Dec 06 2016, 5:55 am

History is not PC. Present is not PC, as much as NY liberals try to shut people up.

Now, you are allowed to not want the kissing scenes for a teen.

Maybe warn that only the beginning is ok.

You will also have fond refs to Xmas. I personally let that in this case because the book is remote from them, and has value.