A pioneer girl at heart

Pamela Smith Hill first discovered Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books at the age of 10, while living in the Missouri Ozarks, just 50 miles from Rocky Ridge Farm, where Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote those very books.

'I started with Little Town on the Prairie and was immediately intrigued with the idea that the Laura Ingalls in the books went on to become the Laura Ingalls Wilder who wrote them,” recalls Smith Hill. 'Already I wanted to be a writer, but until I read the Little House books, I thought all writers lived in New York, California, or Great Britain. The idea that a successful writer could live on a farm in the Ozarks gave me great hope.”

'My family took me to visit Rocky Ridge Farm when I was 11, and seeing Wilder's original manuscripts on display in her farmhouse (as they were back in the 1960s) inspired me even more. I wrote about that visit in my very first diary, which I still have.”

It was during Laura Ingalls Wilder's time at Rocky Ridge Farm that she also wrote her autobiography, 'Pioneer Girl.” While the book was never published during Wilder's life, Smith Hill recently had the opportunity to play a major role in bringing that story to live by serving as the editor for the much anticipated release of Laura Ingalls Wilder's 'Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography.”

'The fulfillment I've found was in being able to help bring Wilder's autobiography to a larger audience at last, to share this important unpublished work with readers who have been waiting for it for over 80 years,” says Smith Hill from her home in Portland, Ore.

'The idea for an annotated version of ‘Pioneer Girl' actually grew out of my biography on Wilder, ‘Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer's Life,'” which Smith Hill published in 2005. 'I quoted extensively from ‘Pioneer Girl' in that book, and after hearing from (adult) readers who wanted their own copy of ‘Pioneer Girl,' I became convinced that Wilder's autobiography should be published at long last.”

But, Smith Hill explained, there are several versions of ‘Pioneer Girl,' with significant variations between them as well as a complicated relationship with the Little House books themselves, which Wilder fictionalized for children. 'It dawned on me that ‘Pioneer Girl' should be published in a way that would put its many variations in historical, literary and creative context.”

There is perhaps no one better suited to the job than Smith Hill, who has become an expert on Wilder throughout her own writing career. A fan of Wilder from a young age, Smith Hill's appreciation for Laura Ingalls Wilder deepened when she herself moved to South Dakota, where - happenstance or not - Wilder set five of her nine Little House books. 'I began writing about her life and work as a public information specialist with the South Dakota Division of Tourism,” Smith Hill says. 'Although I left the state in the early 1980s, my interest in Wilder remained constant, especially after I launched my own career as a writer for young readers. Later I drew on Wilder's work when I taught creative writing classes, and reread the books regularly. So as you can see, Laura Ingalls Wilder has always been a source of creative inspiration for me.”

'As a writer myself, I'm fascinated with the interaction between the facts of Wilder's childhood and the fiction of her novels,” says Smith Hill. 'Laura Ingalls Wilder was a master storyteller, who knew how to transform the facts of her life into memorable and enduring fiction. ‘Pioneer Girl' shows just how masterful she truly was - and how she grew into her literary life as an important and classic writer of historical fiction.”

Smith Hill, who has also written young adult historical novels, began working on ‘Pioneer Girl' early in 2011 and continued to make revisions and corrections to the text right up until the book went to the printer late last summer. She admits the process was very distinct - equal parts thrilling and tedious.

'One sentence in ‘Pioneer Girl' might require two or three or even more annotations,” says Smith Hill. 'So researching and writing the book required a line-by-line analysis of Wilder's rough draft, which became the basis for the book, along with line-by-line readings of the four edited versions of ‘Pioneer Girl' Wilder produced with her daughter's editorial assistance (author Rose Wilder Lane).”

Thus far, readers seem to be appreciating all the work that Smith Hill put into making the book a reality. Once rejected decades ago, today booksellers are having a hard time keeping ‘Pioneer Girl' in stock.

Smith Hill will be doing two presentations on ‘Pioneer Girl' - and its unexpected mass appeal - on Sept. 7 at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum in West Branch. She's looking forward to discussing Wilder's literary legacy, and the popular perception of Wilder and her work.

'I especially enjoy meeting other passionate Wilder readers,” she says. 'Wilder's books know virtually no generational, cultural, or geographical boundaries. I always learn something new from other readers at events like these - whether readers are new to Wilder's books or have read and reread them many times.”

She recalled another speaking event earlier this year. 'I gave a Wilder presentation to third-graders at the American School in Rabat, Morocco. Although this was their first experience with Wilder's books, they had all kinds of questions about her life and work. And like most Wilder readers, they brought their own unique interpretations to her books.”

Even with all her years of study, Smith Hill said she too continues to learn about and from Wilder. Smith Hill recently taught two open online courses on Wilder - which garnered nearly 7,000 online students - through Missouri State University that the University plans to offer again in 2016. 'So I'll continue my research into Laura Ingalls Wilder for my students and for myself.”

'For me personally, Wilder continues to teach me about the writing life - that beautiful prose can be deceptively simple and direct; that the craft of writing demands commitment and hard work; that success doesn't come overnight - if at all. Writing isn't glamorous, but it creates its own kind of magic, and that, I learned from Laura Ingalls Wilder.”

If you go

Who: Pamela Smith Hill

When: 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sept. 7

Where: Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum, 210 Parkside Dr., West Branch

Cost: $10

Tickets: (319) 643-5301