If you grew up in the 80s, you might well be familiar with this television series, which aired every Sunday afternoon in Indonesia (Little, 2015). At that time, the only TV station that existed was TVRI.
Little House on the Prairie, original series
Image: Taken from IMDb, n.d.
Growing up a bookworm, I remember going to the Gramedia and Gunung Agung bookstores with my mother, trying to find and buy the book. But it was not available on the market. I remember being a little upset. Why? As a book lover, I believe reading can shape my imagination about a particular story or subject, something that watching a movie cannot because a movie is the final product of somebody else’s imagination. Finally, in 2011, the Little House on the Prairie, which translates as Rumah Kecil di Lereng Bukit, was published by LIBRI and sold to the Indonesian market (Intisari, 2012).
Little House on the Prairie, the book
Image: Taken from Website Editors, 2014.
So, what is the Little House on the Prairie, and why is it important to American literature?
Little House on the Prairie was an autobiographical work by Laura Ingalls Wilder, written in collaboration with her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane (Romines, 2011). Born in Wisconsin, Wilder was relocated with her family to several Midwest states before finally settling in Missouri in 1894. It took her and her daughter 11 years, from 1932 to 1943, to wrap up the 8-volume set of the Little House series.
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Image: Taken from Nicole Darrah, 2018.
Loved by many and yet judged controversial by some, Wilder’s book was labeled a classic of children’s literature in America because the stories, beyond being entertaining and delightful, have offered an entry point for delving into discussions of the American frontier and Westward Expansion (VanDerWeide, n.d.). Another supportive voice is Klein (2025), who states that Wilder’s colorful story of hardship, adventure, and survival on the Wisconsin frontier struck a chord in Depression-era America. Similarly, Romines (2011) mentioned that the Little House series engages important issues of European American settler culture in the Midwest: the competition of ma’s settled domesticity and pa’s westering wanderlust, and the broached and botched possibilities of intercultural contacts between frontier Americans of different races and ethnicities, to name a few. However, historians have debated whether Wilder’s series confirms or challenges the Turnerian account of the settlement of the American West, biographers have debated the extent and significance of Rose Wilder Lane’s collaboration, and recently, the Association of Library Service to Children (ALSC) removed her book from a major children’s book award after concerns were raised on her depiction of certain races in the early-to-mid 20th century (Romines, 2011; Darrah, 2018).
Regardless of the pros and cons mentioned above, a recent development, such as Netflix’s remake of the show (Netflix, 2026), proves that Little House on the Prairie continues to play a pivotal role in American literature and society. In closing, I would consider myself blessed to have the opportunity to visit the Little House on the Prairie Museum in Kansas in 2024.
The Little House on the Prairie Museum
Photograph taken by the Author, 2024.
Can you think of a book that represents Indonesian literature that Prairie: ais both inspiring and controversial?
References
Darrah, N. (2018, Jun 24). Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name pulled from library award over ‘stereotypical attitudes’ in her popular books. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/us/laura ingalls-wilders-name-pulled-from-library-award-over-stereotypical-attitudes-in-her-popular books?msockid=106d3849663861f537932c1567536001
IMDb. (n.d.). Little House on the Prairie. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071007/
Intisari Wanita Collection. (2012). https://intisariwanita.blogspot.com/2012/05/rumah-kecil-di lereng-bukit-laura.html
Klein, C. (2025, Aug 25). The hidden politics behind ‘Little House on the Prairie.’ History. https://www.history.com/articles/little-house-books-laura-ingalls-wilder-libertarian
Little House on the Prairie. (2015, Mar 11). “Little House on the Prairie” remastered edition trailer [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SFkrgW2i8U
Netflix. (2026, Apr 13). Little House on the Prairie | Official Teaser | Netflix [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmF0JRoWRGU
Romines, A. (2011). Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1867 – 1957). Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. https://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.lt.082.html
VanDerWeide, M. (n.d.). Little House on the Prairie: A Journey into America’s Westward Expansion. Hillsdale College. https://www.hillsdale.edu/hillsdale-blog/k12-classical education/little-house-on-the-prairie-a-journey-into-americas-westward-expansion/
Website Editors. (2014, Sep 7). The Little House books. Little House on the Prairie. https://littlehouseontheprairie.com/little-house-on-the-prairie-books/
