Book Review: Caroline: Little House, Revisited

By Jessica Asbell

If you were a fan of the Little House on the Prairie series when you were growing up, youll be delighted to discover Sarah Millers Caroline: Little House, Revisited. And despite the author occasionally waffling between first and third person, Caroline feels like coming home. If youve read Laura Ingalls Wilders view of life on the prairie, youll appreciate the depth of Carolines view as an adult.

Everything is there: the emotions of leaving home and family, truly, for the first time; the desire to be selfish warring with the desire to be strong for her daughters, Mary and Laura; and the harrowing aspect of crossing the country in a wagon, camping along the side of the road, crossing a frozen lake as it was thawing, and crossing swollen creeks where the horses had to swim.

In a time when all you had to do to claim land in the mid west was to settle it, build a house, and plow the land, Charles Ingalls sees adventure. He sees land just waiting to be claimed. Caroline, though, is more apprehensive. Charles sees adventure, and she sees uncertainty. But at the sight of Charles enthusiasm, Caroline says yes. So, they pack the wagon to the brim and say goodbye to their kin in what is perhaps the last time they will ever see them.

Sarah Millers Caroline is much more of a three-dimensional character than Laura Ingalls Wilders Caroline was. From Lauras perspective, Caroline is just Ma. But Miller gives us a rare gift: the ability to see inside Caroline, to hear her thoughts and her feelings, and she is by no means perfect. As she is forced to separate herself from the family she leaned on, she begins to discover who she is.

Caroline Ingalls was a real person, one who made mistakes, loved fiercely, and battled the elements to make a life for her family. In Caroline, Sarah Miller gives her story space to thrive.