What to know if you go

Last update: May 6, 2009 - 8:49 AM

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Here are resources to inspire and guide an exploration of Laura Ingalls Wilder sites:

A good place to begin, with information on festivals and much more, is www.laurasprairiehouse.com.

Beyond the standard "The Little House" books (available individually or as a set), there is "The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods From Laura Ingalls Wilder's Classic Stories," by Barbara M. Walker and Garth Williams ($9.99) and "The Little House Guidebook," by William Anderson ($9.99).

You can also get "The Little House" audiobooks, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, performed by Broadway actress Cherry Jones on cassette and CD. ($14.95-$25.95). Listen to them in the car as you drive from site to site. Jones is a lovely reader, with a wonderful singing voice. More inspiration can be had with the CD "Happy Land: Musical Tributes to Laura Ingalls Wilder" ($15.98) and "The Little House on the Prairie," a fantastic feature film, not the television series ( $21.99).

These websites, from towns with ties to Wilder, are useful:

Pepin, Wis.: lhotp.homestead.com/pepin_mansfield_trip2.html, www.lauraingallswilderhome.com

Independence, Kan.: www.littlehouseontheprairie.com

Burr Oak, Iowa: www.lauraingallswilder.us

Walnut Grove: www.walnutgrove.org

De Smet: www.ingallshomestead.com, discoverlaura.org

Mansfield, Mo.: www.lauraingallswilderhome.com

The Ordway in downtown St. Paul will stage a "Little House on the Prairie" musical Oct. 13-25. For information, go to www.ordway.org/performances/0910/little-house-on-the-prairie.asp.

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