Greetings and welcome to the end of March. This month we’ve had fake spring here in Chicagoland—several beautiful, 70-degree days—but now we’re back to late winter: some snow, some sun, some cold rain, temperatures in the 40s.
Two more reviews of A Prairie Faith have appeared in the last several months. One was in the February issue of New Horizons, the monthly magazine of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC). This is the conservative Presbyterian denomination that I have been a member of for most of my life. Reviewer Hannah Schmidt notes that Wilder’s rejection of predestination and strict Sabbatarianism meant that “Most likely Wilder would not have sought out an OPC church.” Schmidt also has encouraging words about my work piecing together Wilder’s and Rose’s ideas from their writings. I appreciate both her kind words and her challenges. I’m also grateful to the New Horizons staff for publishing them.
The other review is in the Winter 2024 Issue of Magistra: A Journal of Women’s Spirituality in History. That journal is published by a group of Roman Catholic women interested in “the spirituality of women in all time periods and all religious traditions.” Reviewer Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook ably summarizes the major findings of the book. I am thankful for her careful reading.
The book has also been named a 2024 Finalist for Book of the Year for Biography in a contest sponsored by the website Foreword. Foreword promotes the books of independent authors and small publishers. They affectionately call their awards the INDIES. There are seven other finalists for the Biography category, including biographies of Western Explorer John C. Fremont, Notre Dame football coach Ara Parseghian, and Pem Dorjee Sherpa, who climbed Mount Everest. The winners of the award will be announced in June.
Finally, it was exciting to be invited to the Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival at the end of April to receive their Ella Dickey Literacy Award. The Festival is held in Marshfield, Missouri, about thirty minutes northwest of Mansfield, where Laura and Almanzo lived, and about thirty minutes northeast of regional metropolis Springfield. The Festival features a forum with descendants of Dred Scott and Nat Turner, and it also has events that showcase cast members from Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons, and Leave it to Beaver. To top it all off, Bill Anderson will be there to present me with the award! The event runs from Thursday, April 24 to Sunday, April 27.
Just a reminder that before that, I will be speaking at an online Iowa History 101 event sponsored by the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI) on Thursday, April 10 at noon central time. I would love to see you in the zoom and chat! The link to register for my talk is below.
If you’re interested in having me speak, please let me know (john.fry@trnty.edu). Thanks again for your all your support!
Links
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
New Horizons February 2025 issue (click Download PDF or EPub) – The review is on pages 21 and 22; or you can use this direct link to the PDF
Magistra: A Journal of Women’s Spirituality in History – I think that to get the Winter 2024 issue (Volume 30, number 2), you will have to contact the editor, Sister Judith Sutera, OSB.
Foreword 2024 Book of the Year (INDIES) Finalists Announcement
Foreword Book of the Year (INDIES) Finalists for Biography
Foreword’s Listing for A Prairie Faith
Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival – the best rundown on events I’ve found. You can also google their Facebook and Eventbright pages.
Iowa History 101 and my upcoming talk on April 10 (includes registration)
The Faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder 