Review: Farmer Boy

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read somewhere that one of the most noticeable differences between Mrs. Wilder’s account of her own childhood and that of her husband was the economic prosperity, especially in regards to the plentiful variety of food available to little Almanzo. I also noticed the radically different AMOUNTS of money the Wilder and Ingalls family were dealing with. Ten dollars is a lot for young Laura but Almanzo keeps hearing his family talk about dollars in the hundreds.

However what I found most surprising was Almanzo’s liberal attitude towards school. It is startlingly clear that for Laura, school was a way out of poverty, while Almanzo found it constraining. I thought it surprising because I think we can still see an echo of that attitude going on today. Women have become a majority of college attendees and graduates, mostly because the professions not requiring a college degree that pay well remain deeply male-coded professions.

Considering I had skipped straight from Little in the Big Woods to The Long Winter, it was surprising to see a young Almanzo and a long Eliza Jane. I still love the writing and how she can make the everyday into great drama. I did miss the familiar characters though, I had grown quite fond of the Ingalls.

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