Summer Reading

I realize the summer is over, but I'm still working on my self-imposed summer reading project. I've been reading the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I loved these books when I was a girl, and I hadn't read them since elementary school. I've really enjoyed it. Thanks to Regina Beckett for loaning me the collection. She has the entire set in hardcover with all the dustjackets still intact. These books are now out of print, so I've tried to be very careful with them. I think my favorite thing about them though is the childishly cursive writing inside each cover: Regina Lewis. Cutest thing ever!

Anyway, here is a passage from The Long Winter that I thought was really sweet, especially since I have two little sisters.
“That was over. But they did not speak until they had walked out of town. Then Carrie said, ‘You did that beautifully, Laura.’
‘Oh, it was just buying something,’ Laura replied.
‘I know, but I feel funny when people look at me. I feel…not scared, exactly…’ Carrie said.
‘There’s nothing to be scared of,’ Laura said. ‘We mustn’t ever be scared.’ Suddenly she told Carrie, ‘I feel the same way.’
‘Do you, really? I didn’t know that. You don’t act like it. I always feel so safe when you’re there,’ Carrie said.
‘You are safe when I’m there,’ Laura answered. ‘I’d take care of you. Anyway, I’d try my best.’
‘I know you would,’ Carrie said.
It was nice, walking together. To take care of their shoes, they did not walk in the dusty wheel-tracks. They walked on the harder strip in the middle where only horses’ hoofs had discouraged the grass. They were not walking hand in hand, but they felt as if they were.
Ever since Laura could remember, Carrie had been her little sister. First she had been a tiny baby, then she had been Baby Carrie, then she had been a clutcher and tagger, always asking ‘Why?’ Now she was ten years old, old enough to be really a sister. And they were out together, away from even Pa and Ma. Their errand was done and off their minds, and the sun was shining, the wind was blowing, the prairie spread far all around them. They felt free and independent and comfortable together.”