People ask if the “new” Hines books are worth buying. In a nutshell, no.
Repackaging seems to be popular lately, and that’s exactly what these three volumes are: repackagings of three earlier publications: Little House in the Ozarks (1991), Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Family Collection (1993), and I Remember Laura (1994). Very similar to Little House in the Ozarks, LIW: A Family Collection is a compilation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s articles printed in the Missouri Ruralist. This book was published by Barnes & Noble; the others by Thomas Nelson.
For the first two “new” volumes, I went through article-by-article, and found the same article in either the Ozarks or Family Collection as follows:
Volume One: Laura Ingalls Wilder On Wisdom & Virtue contains:
The Helping Hand of Helpfulness (LHitO)
Let Us Be Just (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
If We Only Understood (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
A Dog’s a Dog for A’That (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
A Few Minutes With a Poet (LHitO)
Do the Right Thing Always (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
Kind Hearts (LHitO)
Everyday Implications of the Golden Rule (LHitO)
A Man’s Word Is All He Has (LHitO)
Just a Question of Tact (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
Swearing (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
Honor and Duty (LHitO)
Troubles Grow as We Talk About Them (LHitO)
Keeping Friends (LHitO)
Lesson from an Irish Fable (LHitO)
The Armor of a Smile (LHitO)
Laura and Mary Quarrel at Thanksgiving (LHitO)
When the Blues Descend (LHitO)
The Creative Chemistry of Life (LHitO)
The Light We Throw (LHitO)
The Blessings of the Year (LHitO)
An Autumm Day (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
Simplify, Simplify (LHitO)
Compensations (LHitO)
To Stand by Ourselves (LHitO)
The Things That Matter (LHitO)
We Keep Right on Eating (LHitO)
The Hidden Cost of Getting What We Want (LHitO)
Make Your Garden! (LHitO)
Opportunity (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
Make Every Minute Count (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
Challenges (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
Make a New Beginning (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
The Source of Improvement (LHitO)
Learning Something New (LHitO)
Volume Two: Laura Ingalls Wilder on Life as a Pioneer Woman contains:
Let’s Visit Mrs. Wilder (LIW:AFC)
The Old Dash Churn (LHitO)
My Apple Orchard (LHitO)
On Chickens and Hawks (LHitO)
Rocky Ridge Farm (LHitO)
When Grandma Pioneered (LHitO)
The Hard Winter (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
Pioneering on an Ozark Farm (LHitO)
The March of Progress (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
Shorter Hours for the Farm Home Manager (LHitO)
We Revel in Water (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
The Home Beauty Parlor (LHitO)
This and That – a Neighborly Visit with Laura (LHitO)
New Day for Women (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
Women’s Work? (LHitO)
The Woman’s Place (LHitO)
Farmers – Need More Wives? (LHitO)
About Work (LHitO)
Two Heads Are Better Than One (LHitO)
Tired to Death with Work (LHitO)
A Day Off Now and Then (LHitO, LIW:AFC)
What Became of the Time We Saved? (LHitO)
How to Furnish a Home (LHitO)
Going After the Cows (LHitO)
Home (LHitO)
Volume Three: Laura Ingalls Wilder As TOld by her Family, Friends & Neighbors contains five sections, about De Smet, Mansfield, Remembering Laura, Mother and Daughter, and Unsolved Mysteries
This volume seems to be almost exactly the same as Hines’ I Remember Laura from 1994, but I Remember Laura contains more articles than this one. Trust me. If you’ve read this far, I will add that if you send me a dollar, I will send you a transcription of a Missouri Ruralist article that hasn’t ever been reprinted. Why should Hines be making all the money?
