This novel will feel familiar to fans of the Little House on the Prairie. In fact, if you enjoyed reading the series as a young child you may enjoy delving into this world again albeit with a very different perspective.

This historical novel follows Hanna as she settles with her father in the small town of LaForge in Dakota Territory after traveling east from California over three-year period. As Hanna adjusts to her new surroundings, she must deal with the subtle and blatant racism she encounters as a half-Chinese girl. The townspeople treat all “dirty Chinamen” as immoral and stupid. Hanna finds these encounters almost impossible to bear at times as she is also mourning her Chinese mother – the one person who can understand her experiences. Hanna draws on her memories of her mother to muster the courage to attend a school where most don’t want her and endure the taunts of the townspeople and the bullying from her classmates. Hanna knows that her life will be limited by her race and heritage. Her own parents had to travel to another state to marry. She also sees firsthand the injustices suffered by the Native Americans in the American West at this time. Even her own father seems to explain away the terrible treatment of the Sioux despite his own encounters with racism as the husband of a Chinese women.

Hannah simply wants to be a dressmaker in her father’s shop and develop a few close friends. The racist attitudes of those around her put her dreams and her father’s store at risk. Hanna is determined to win over the townspeople and hopes that her dressmaking skills will prove that she can contribute and eventually be accepted by the community. Otherwise, she and her father will once again travel by horse and wagon to find a home.

Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park is a nod to the Little House books while also addressing some of the more problematic and racist issues with the Little House series. Park gives the readers a highly observant heroine whose voice is strong, hopeful, and sensitive. ( )

Like author Linda Sue Park, I was a big Little House on the Prairie book fan. My second grade teacher read LHotP to us in class, and when we did a family trip to Michigan the next summer, my parents made stops in Plum Creek, MN and DeSmet, SD. Nothing fits a long roadtrip quite well like staring out the window at grass and thinking about Laura doing the same from the back of the wagon.

However, like Park it's hard to ignore the fact that the Ingalls family likely would've been racist to me with some of the aggressions that Hanna encounters (and as Park notes, are all things she's faced IRL). Historical fiction is whitewashed, and that gives an erroneous perception that history largely belongs to white people. Black and brown people have existed in all eras; do you think our ancestors stayed at home until deciding to move in the 20th century or something? Prairie Lotus is Park's way of reckoning with that childhood love while envisioning how girls like us would've lived in a pioneer town.

LH fans will find this a familiar place- small town with a one room school house, cheerful calicos and poplins, and salt pork. One of Hanna's classmates is an expy of Laura Ingalls Wilder herself (lived in the same states and wants to graduate & become a teacher soon). Unlike the Little House books, though, Park recognizes that indigenous people lived in the area and they have names & dialogue instead of being a nameless, voiceless Other. A lot of what 14-year-old Hanna faces from townsfolk is unfortunately timeless, and will be familiar to any nonwhite reader (as is the way she reacts, not wanting to give the satisfaction of a reaction especially as the only Asian these people have likely met).

Really loved this, and it was the perfect way to segue into my Little House reread. I'll strongly recommend this book in general, and also as a companion book for readers going through LH, especially those who Ma would've snubbed. ( )

This is a really touching work of historical fiction about a half-Chinese girl aspiring to be a dressmaker. The author has written this as an homage to her love of the Little House books but also as a critique for some of the more problematic themes of racism found within. The story's heroine, Hannah finds herself uprooted from her home in California and resettled in South Dakota. She finds very little welcome in her new home due to her Chinese ancestry. Her father (who is white) is supportive but painfully aware of how the world will treat her. He pushes Hannah to remain non threatening and submissive to avoid trouble. Hannah doesn't want to be submissive in the face of racism but she's aware that her ethnic background could cause problems for their family's business. This is a great substitution for the little house books and also provides some interesting historical context about that era of US history. ( )

A “half-Chinese and half-white” girl finds her place in a Little House–inspired fictional settler town.

After the death of her Chinese mother, Hanna, an aspiring dressmaker, and her White father seek a fresh start in Dakota Territory. It’s 1880, and they endure challenges similar to those faced by the Ingallses and so many others: dreary travel through unfamiliar lands, the struggle to protect food stores from nature, and the risky uncertainty of establishing a livelihood in a new place. Fans of the Little House books will find many of the small satisfactions of Laura’s stories—the mouthwatering descriptions of victuals, the attention to smart building construction, the glorious details of pleats and poplins—here in abundance. Park brings new depth to these well-trodden tales, though, as she renders visible both the xenophobia of the town’s White residents, which ranges in expression from microaggressions to full-out assault, and Hanna’s fight to overcome it with empathy and dignity. Hanna’s encounters with women of the nearby Ihanktonwan community are a treat; they hint at the whole world beyond a White settler perspective, a world all children deserve to learn about. A deeply personal author’s note about the story’s inspiration may leave readers wishing for additional resources for further study and more clarity about her use of Lakota/Dakota. While the cover art unfortunately evokes none of the richness of the text and instead insinuates insidious stereotypes, readers who sink into the pages behind it will be rewarded.

Remarkable.

I, too, loved Little House as a child, and I'm loving this generations' wave of responses to it even more. From the frank discussion on microaggressions and racism to the loving descriptions of the inside of the dress goods store, this book is a treat. Hannah is a character to feel proud of, and her story is very well told.

advanced reader's copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )