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The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin

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  The Children's Blizzard is historical fiction based on a tragic natural disaster that happened on January 12, 1888 in Nebraska. That blizzard, called The Schoolhouse Blizzard in some records, was previously written about in David Laskin's non-fiction book of the same name. I read Laskin's book when it was published in 2004 and was fascinated by this natural disaster that I'd never heard of before.  This is a fictionalized story of that day in 1888. The characters--Raina and Gerda, Anette, Fredrik, Tor-they are based on some of the actual students and teachers that survived the blizzard.  It's January 12, 1888. A strangely warm (40 degrees!) day on the Nebraska prairies. People took advantage of the mild weather to make trips to town from their homesteads for supplies. Students walked to school without their usual heavy coats and gloves. For most, it was a pretty short walk-maybe 15 minutes from their homes to the schoolhouses. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, ...

Caroline: Little House, Revisited by Sarah Miller

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For those of us who still keep our childhood copies of the Little House  books on our bookshelves, this soon to be published novel about Caroline Ingalls is like a long lost friend returning for a brief visit.   "Ma", as we all know and love her, was the gentle, firm, yet loving mother to Mary, Laura, Carrie, and Grace.  In many ways she has always been a bit one dimensional; seen through the eyes of her daughter, Laura, we only see Ma as the wise mother, always deferring to her husband. Well, hold your hat, because we see Ma as Caroline, pioneer woman, loving mother, and lover (yes, I said lover) in this retelling of Little House on the Prairie. Wonder where Laura got her moxie? Yes, some of it from her father, but pretty much 90% from her mother.  The novel begins in Wisconsin, as Charles' wanderlust leads him and his family to pack their worldly goods into a wagon and head to Kansas.  Caroline is newly pregnant with Carrie, and doesn't want to ...