The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life

This is a lovely little gem of a book! My mother-in-law is the queen of gift-giving, and she knew I would love this, so she got it for me for my birthday. I have just been eating it up since then. Growing up in the mountains of Western North Carolina, I consider myself lucky to be born into a family that still prizes a lot of these disappearing folk arts. The section on using rag curlers for your hair made me smile, because I remember as a kid, every Saturday night, going to bed with damp hair rolled up and tied with socks so it would be curly for church on Sunday morning. Any one who enjoyed the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a child (and what little girl didn't?) would probably enjoy this charming little book.

Despite the differences in geography, prairie girls and mountain girls have a lot in common and this book is just chock full of interesting tidbits, fun projects, and cute, nostalgic illustrations. The book is designed in little sections describing quaint homemaking projects like embroidering pillow cases, making soap, throwing a tea party, and even one entitled "How to Tell a Good Parlor Story." If you're looking for a serious guide to anything, this is probably not your book. The instructions are not nearly detailed enough to put to any practical use. I would approach this book as more of a survey course, a collection of fun ideas to pique your interest and inspire you to learn more. It's a fun book to keep sitting on the coffee table to flip through during idle moments, and who knows, it might just inspire you to get crafty!