Remembering Those Wilder Years on the Tube

I was reading The Wilder Life by Chicagoan Wendy McClure the other day and discovered McClure’s book is one of many attempts to relate how those tales have affected us.

One of the observations that McClure makes is that there are essentially two cultures who relate to the stories: those who read the books and those who watched the series. Not that people don't consume both, but when someone who grew up with the show meets someone who grew up with the books, it can be disconcerting to realize that the two universes are parallel but not entirely the same.

Since I handle all the TV books I've noticed that several of the actresses involved with the show have turned out memoirs about their careers, making the show an interestingly documented television program. We have:

Prairie Tale by Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls

The Way I See It by Melissa Anderson, who played Mary Ingalls

Confessions of A Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson

Diary of A Stage Mother's Daughter by Melissa Francis, who played Cassandra Cooper Ingalls