Her entry begins:I read voraciously, and usually have several books going at the same time, usually at least one literary novel, one “fun” novel, one children’s or young adult book, one nonfiction book, sometimes poetry as well. As I started compiling a list of what I’m reading right now, I began to see a common theme: all have something to do with keeping classic books relevant to current readers. Here are some of the books that I’m currently in the middle of:About From Little Houses to Little Women, from the publisher:
A Fortunate Age, by Joanna Smith Rakoff: This is a fat, old-fashioned kind of novel that my friend Sara gave me for my birthday. It reminds us both of the beginning of our friendship, thirty years ago, when we met in graduate school at the University of Arkansas. When we were brain dead from required reading, we’d go to the Dickson Street Book Shop and buy fun novels with a point of view that rotated between...[read on]
A typical travel book takes readers along on a trip with the author, but a great travel book does much more than that, inviting readers along on a mental and spiritual journey as well. This distinction is what separates Nancy McCabe’s From Little Houses to Little Women from the typical and allows it toVisit Nancy McCabe's website.take its place not only as a great travel book but also as a memoir about the children’s books that have shaped all of our imaginations.
McCabe, who grew up in Kansas just a few hours from the Ingalls family’s home in Little House on the Prairie, always felt a deep connection with Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House series. McCabe read Little House on the Prairie during her childhood and visited Wilder sites around the Midwest with her aunt when she was thirteen. But then she didn’t read the series again until she decided to revisit in adulthood the books that had so influenced her childhood. It was this decision that ultimately sparked her desire to visit the places that inspired many of her childhood favorites, taking her on a journey that included stops in the Missouri of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Minnesota of Maud Hart Lovelace, the Massachusetts of Louisa May Alcott, and even the Canada of Lucy Maud Montgomery.
From Little Houses to Little Women reveals McCabe’s powerful connection to the characters and authors who inspired many generations of readers. Traveling with McCabe as she rediscovers the books that shaped her and ultimately helped her to forge her own path, readers will enjoy revisiting their own childhood favorites as well.
Writers Read: Nancy McCabe.
--Marshal Zeringue
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