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Book Review of On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894

On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894
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Helpful Score: 10


This book may seem dry to younger readers, but I found it very interesting as an older reader. It is, literally, a diary, not a story written out for entertainment. It details such things as washing out clothes in a pail on a daily basis rather than waiting for a good wash day, crossing rivers, and driving along the first macadam road Laura had ever seen. This was the forerunner to asphalt, and kept down the dust levels in stores. The book also details the relationship of the Wilders with the Cooleys, which is important if you go on to read the Rose Wilder Lane series by Roger MacBride, and especially if you can find Rose's biography.

I recommend this book highly for older readers who are true Laura Ingalls fans. After reading it, find her biography, Laura, by Donald Zochart.