Many educators, activists, and readers applauded the move, while others have argued that the ALSC was unfair to Wilder, and that the overall literary merit of the work outweighs sections of problematic content they contain.
A statement about the decision argued that Wilder’s work reflects “dated cultural attitudes toward Indigenous people and people of color that contradict modern acceptance, celebration, and understanding of diverse communities.” Predictably, the decision sparked a range of responses. In June, the ALSC Board unanimously voted to change the name of its Laura Ingalls Wilder Award to the Children’s Literature Legacy Award.
The book focuses on the period when the Ingalls family lived on the Osage Diminished Reserve in Kansas, and several passages-including one where a character says, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian,” and others where Osage characters are described as animal-like-prompted the Association for Library Service to Children to take action. But the writer’s name surfaced in the news earlier this summer when an organization of children’s librarians, educators, and authors addressed reader concerns about Wilder’s depictions of Native and black characters, particularly in the third novel, Little House on the Prairie. The past few years have seen the release of an annotated version of Wilder’s memoir, a new book of the author’s letters, and a Pulitzer Prize–winning biography. Though Wilder and her Little House series have been immensely popular with generations of American readers, only in recent decades has her work received serious critical attention from scholars. The first book, Little House in the Big Woods, was published in 1932 when the author was 65 years old. At first, publishers passed it over, so Wilder reworked her story into a series. It took several years before she heeded her daughter’s advice and began recording her childhood experiences in a manuscript titled Pioneer Girl. At the time, Wilder was living in Missouri and writing columns for a regional farm magazine. Just over a century ago, Rose Wilder Lane wrote to her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and suggested that she write about her memories growing up on the American frontier.
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