In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The events are horrific and reading about it is tortuous, but the book is so well-written it is just bearable.

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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (in Journeys Through Oz) by L. Frank Baum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is well known to everyone since the movie is so famous that even if you haven't seen the movie, you know almost exactly what happens. There's not much more to be said about the first book except that it's a story about confidence in your abilities and proceeds the way many kids books do: first this happened, then this, then this.

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Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is crazy to read as an adult. It's largely about the white settlers breaking treaties with the Native Americans and expanding Westward into their territory. Of course, I missed the importance of all this when I read it as a kid obviously. It's definitely worth an adult-reread. The father moves the family from Wisconsin to future Kansas over treacherous terrain and then builds a new house from scratch, including all the furniture. Unfortunately, he builds the house basically on top of a Native American trail so they proceed to have a lot of interesting interactions with numerous different tribes.

I'd give it 5 stars now, but I'm sticking with my childhood rating of 4. (I kept a reading journal as a kid. Are you surprised?)

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