Title: Tennessee Wildcat
Authors: Robynne Elizabeth Miller and J. D. Rushmore
Major Themes: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Pioneers, Frontier, Great Plains, Kansas
Synopsis: Is there any way to positively identify the Mr. Edwards that Laura Ingalls Wilder talks about so lovingly?
Like many other people, I have loved Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books ever since I can remember. In fact, I remember when I was six or seven, I was very pleased with myself when I read through an entire book from that series in one day (yes, I was an early, rather precocious reader). I can’t tell you how often I’ve read the entire series, either silently or aloud, but there have been several times. So, when I saw Tennessee Wildcat and read that it was an investigation into a character from Little House on the Prairie, I knew I wanted to read it.
Publisher’s description:
Mr. Edwards…that colorful Tennessee Wildcat Laura Ingalls Wilder so deeply loved. He helped Pa build the family’s cabin, saved Christmas by carrying presents across a raging creek, and spit further than Laura thought possible. Though he was a little rough around the edges, Laura simply adored Mr. Edwards. Through her vivid, heartwarming stories, we came to love him, too.
But who was he? Virtually all Laura’s Little House characters were real people…even those whose names were changed to protect their reputations.
Mr. Edwards, however, wasn’t so easy to track down. In fact, he’s the sole Little House enigma…the only mentioned character that hasn’t clearly surfaced via historical records.
Was he fiction, for the sake of illustrating pioneer stereotypes? Was he a composite character, built from several men Laura knew during their time in Kansas? Was he a loose collection of memories and family lore, cobbled together for the sake of the narrative? Or was he a real man, whose full identity had previously evaded discovery?
We wanted to know the answer.…
So, we dusted off our boots and headed out…hot on the trail of the wildcat from Tennessee!
My thoughts:
A few years ago, I read The Three Faces of Nellie, which is a similar investigation. While I found Tennessee Wildcat interesting, I think Nellie was more so. A lot of this book felt repetitive. However, there were some absolutely fascinating stories about the early settlers in Montgomery County, Kansas. I really enjoyed reading about them. I also found the description of the way land was surveyed, divided, and described very interesting. I am fairly familiar with a lot of the concepts, because the area of Michigan in which I grew up had been mapped out that way—but to read about it brought everything together.
If you are a fellow lover of the Little House books, you will want to read this book and learn what life was really like on the frontier where Laura spent two years of her life as a very young child. Warning: It was quite different than she described in her book!
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it.
No warnings!
Age levels:
Reading Independently—Ages 15 and Above, Adults
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle | Hardcover
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
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