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What an absolutely lovely, lovely entry. I was born three years exactly from the day Laura died. She was my best "literary friend" growing up Rio, in Brazil. I was young and I still remember the day I went to my dad's study's huge National Geographic wall-map, and after an exhausting search, I found "South Dakota" and "DeSmet"! I realized the story had really happened! I will never forget that moment. I loved every book and "grew up" with Laura. I still have the Portuguese editions where I carefully colored Garth Williams' wonderful illustrations. Irony of ironies, I came to the USA for graduate school, met my husband who is today a professor at South Dakota State University! How perfectly delightful to know that Laura was admired by the great Hilda Van Stockum, whom I have read aloud to my own kids! I believe I was one of the first to blog on her death as it is a common search hit on my blog.
I've also written on my love for her books. Laura Ingalls, and Hilda van Stockum, are the ones who inspire them to write. I have written a children's book about the popular Marian devotion in Brazil and just this Valentines' day my dear husband said he'd like to help me publish it. Life in this world is made so much nobler because of authors such as your dear Mama and Laura Ingalls Wilder!
3 comments:
We are big fans of both Laura Ingalls Wilder (mainly because her Pa played the fiddle right here in Missouri) and Hilda van Stockum. I did not know about the correspondence, but the irony is not lost on us about DeSmet and your current farmhouse just a couple of hours away. I used your family for reference when the twins were reading Laura's books! Good luck with your "new adventure" in publishing too :-)
Warmly,
Candise & Crew
Ana,
Throughout our homeschooling years, we were big Hilda Van Stockum fans. Something inspired me to write to Hilda, about 16 or 17 years ago, to express our appreciation for her novels, and what they had meant to my family. Hilda was living in England at the time. You can imagine the surprise and joy we felt when we received a hand-written reply from the great author herself. It was a special homeschooling memory.
Thank you for sharing this - can't wait to show this to my girls who love both Laura and Van Stockum books!
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