On The Banks Of Plum Creek – by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1937)

When most people hear the name Laura Ingalls Wilder, they think of the television show “Little House On The Prairie”, which ran from 1974 to 1983. While it was a clean family show for all ages, it offered a rather idealized version of what life was like back in the 1800s. A much more accurate description is offered in the author’s books. Although all of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books are technically classified as biographical fiction, the events in the books did indeed happen.

This book covers 1874-1876, the years that Laura’s family lived outside the town of Walnut Creek, Minnesota. Her father bought land along Plum Creek from a Norwegian man named Mr. Hanson, who wanted to move farther west. It seemed like the perfect place to Pa Ingalls. The prairie soil was rich, and there were no trees that needed to be removed before planting wheat. It was within walking distance of town, so Laura and her older sister Mary could attend school for the first time.

Guts – by Raina Telgemeier (2019)

Raina is a 5th grader who struggles with anxiety, panic attacks, and digestive issues. Every time she gets stressed, her body reacts with vomiting and diarrhea. Raina is hyper-sensitive about germs around her, to an unhealthy degree. A lot of people worry about catching a cold from people around them, but Raina can make herself sick just thinking about it.

Needless to say, this obsession with germs disrupts her life. She misses a lot of school, and prompts frequent trips to the doctor, where they can find nothing physically wrong with her.