This seems to be a book trying to create something out of nothing, a desperate desire to show that Laura Ingalls Wilder had a deeply Christian faith and was guided by its principles. After all, that’s what the subtitle promises – The Religious Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. However, it seems to me that Wilder didn’t have much of a religious life at all and never publicly talked about her faith, to the extent that she had any. The author tries to counter that but singularly without success. He trawls though the life and the work trying to make his case, but it simply doesn’t work. To the extent that was common at the time, Wilder did attend church on occasion, as was the societal norm, attended Sunday school as a child, and read the bible at home – again the societal norm. But she doesn’t talk about her beliefs anywhere, nor does she try to impose them on others. It soon becomes clear that while church and churchgoing were there in the background as would have been the case anywhere in that era, religious faith simply wasn’t important to her – although the author keeps insisting that Christianity was actually important to her, if not central. He repeats this endlessly, especially in the last few pages. He clearly wants Wilder to have faith but is hard pressed to substantiate that she did. It’s no coincidence that “probably” comes up 25 times in the book along with many instances of “possibly” and “maybe”. For anyone interested in that sort of thing, there’s quite a lot of information about the various churches in the various towns Wilder lived in, with even the names of the ministers and preachers, but there is no evidence any of these worthy souls had any impact on Wilder’s life. So ultimately this is a book about nothing much, far too based on speculation and supposition, and doesn’t tell us anything Wilder fans won’t already know.

I loved getting a look at the faith story of of the author of one of my favorite childhood books series. It had me looking at the author in a whole new light.

Laura Ingalls Wilder has been a part of my life since I can remember. I have read other biographies but none that focused on her faith journey. I enjoyed learning about the different experiences that Laura had as she travelled over her life. It was insightful and well constructed. Definitely a biography I will recommend to others.

I received an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Prairie Faith
The Religious Life of Laura Ingalls Wilde
by John J. Fry
Pub DateFeb 06 2024 | Archive Date Feb 18 2024
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Biographies & Memoirs|. History
I was given a copy of A Prairie Faith through Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company and Netgalley:
Since Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books were first published, more than 60 million copies have been sold.
Laura’s Unpolished Memoir Pioneer Girl, the true story behind her children’s books, received widespread praise in 2014. Few people know much about Wilder’s Christian faith despite her enduring popularity.
John Fry illuminates Wilder’s quiet faith throughout this unique biography. Wilder’s lesser-known writings, including letters, poems, and newspaper columns, are discussed in this biography. Using. many sources, he shows how Wilder’s faith and Christian morality shaped her life and work. A Prairie Faith illustrates pioneers’ and rural farmers’ Christian practices during this dynamic period of American history by interweaving these investigations with Wilder’s perennially fascinating life story. Along with Wilder’s life story,
I give A Prairie Faith five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy of this boo in exchange for an honest review. I am a Bonnet Head. If you know what that means, you will be sure to get something out of this book "A Prairie Faith" by John J Fry. I have a vast collection of books written by and written about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her life and legacy. (Side note: I also read and collect things based on the TV Show but that is secondary for my love of the real woman). Anyway one of the few aspects of Laura's life that has not been thourougly studied (But yet studied some) is her inner religious life. Religion is sprinkled throughout her novels but at times it wasn't always easy to live that faith. This book does a good job of presenting the faith/religious aspects of the book but still providing information on this amazing woman's real life and background. Therefore, I think this book wouldn't be difficult for a newcomer to LIW history to pick up and enjoy.

Growing up, I loved the Little House books and my mom and I watched 'Little House On The Prairie' (her favorite show) often so when I seen this book was available on NetGalley, it peaked my interest. I really enjoyed this! It was interesting to learn about Laura's life and how her faith shaped it. If you enjoy(ed) Laura's books or love history, this might be right up your alley and I would recommend it! Special Thank You to John J. Fry, Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting read but not one that I will read again. I love Laura's books and this was an interesting insight into her real life.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. I enjoyed the little House books as a kid. I think it’s definitely a shocker when as a kid; you learn that everything in the books didn’t happen. In a way, I thought Laura would be more open with her faith but this wasn’t the case.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company for an ARC of this book.

I was really excited to get approved to read this book. I am a really big fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder and have read a lot about her over the years.

This book however was really disappointing to me. It was really boring to me. I really struggled to finish this one.

I found this to be a very interesting book! If you enjoy learning about history and religion, this is a great resource! I've always admired Laura Ingalls Wilder, and I enjoyed learning about how religion was a part of her life!
There are a lot of facts and interesting tidbits. I recommend reading this if you are interested in learning about Laura's faith and how it affected her life!

I received a copy of the book via Netgalley by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Unfortunately, this was not for me. I initially thought this would be about the faith of Laura Ingalls. However, apart from Lauara stating she was uncomfortable sharing her faith as she thought ones relationship with God was private, that's about all her faith that was detailed. This story did recap in great detail the life story of the Ingalls family, and although it was very informative, it read like a college paper. I ultimately did not finish and do not forsee myself reading any more books in the Library of Religious Biography series.

Thank you, NetGalley, and Wm B. Eerdman's Publishing Company for the opportunity to read and review this advanced copy.

I loved the Little House b0oks when I read them as a child and I usually enjoy spiritual memoirs, but A Prairie Faith was a waste of my time. I stopped reading about a third of the way through and would not have gotten that far if I did not feel an obligation to review it fairly in return for a free copy provided by NetGalley.
A Prairie Faith is NOT about Laura Ingalls Wilder's faith. It is a blow by blow description of every petty detail of her life, the lives of her relatives, friends, neighbors, teachers, and what appears to be those of every minister who served in any of the communities in which she lived, whether or not she ever heard them preach. Aside from a few adolescent poems (and they are barely poems, more like derivative doggerel full of borrowed sentiments and rhymes borrowed from things she read) it appears that Laura never wrote anything specifically religious. Articles Laura wrote for newspapers and church magazines seem to deal mainly with stories about other people rather than any of her own ideas. There are quotes from what appear to be journal entries in which Laura explains that she is not comfortable with the expressive religiosity of many church meetings because she sees a relationship with God as a private matter. It seems to me that John Fry and the other writers who felt the urge to write about this subject should have resisted that urge out of respect for the subject's own preference.
The author's most accurate term is the word "probably" as he derived what are clearly his opinions from the flimsiest references. It seems obvious that Laura was a cultural Christian, raised by Protestant parents who taught her to pray, attend church when convenient, and read the Bible. In this, they were no different than most of their neighbors. It seems impossible to have any real understanding of the depth or sincerity of Laura's actual beliefs based on this book, which was based on other secondary sources, mainly the Little House novels, a memoir Laura wrote called Pioneer Girl, books written and/or ghostwritten by her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, a professional writer and nonbeliever who was not above inserting religious content if it seemed appropriate. He also appears to have used tertiary sources by other writers whose analysis of Laura's beliefs vary based on their own.
It is one thing to dislike the content of a book but I also found A Prairie Faith to be incredibly dry and dull. I could not force myself to finish reading it and I will not be reading any of the author's other work. I will likely avoid any of the titles in the series Library of Religious Biography.

I really like the concept of this book, since I have loved the Little House books and show since I was a little kid, but unfortunately (for the time being, anyway), I am marking this title as DNF. This is because of two reasons: Firstly, the formatting is really wacky, which makes for some confusing reading. This may be my Kindle's fault, but I do not know. The second issue that I have is that it is very repetitive, reiterating the same points over and over again. However once the final edited publication is released, I will probably try it again!