A note from Mark Lorenzen (Year 5/6 Chapter Chat organiser): Historical fiction is a story that is set in the past. Some elements of the story are true, others are not. Laura's family did have a little house on the prairie and Laura wrote her book based on what she knew about that time. This novel was written several generations ago, and the actual events took place about 150 years ago. Since then, the manner we refer to many different groups of people has changed. For instance, the author refers to the original peoples of North America as Indians, whereas people today often use the terms First Nations, Native Americans (or Canadians) or Aboriginal Peoples in this regard.

The eastern United States was becoming crowded. Small farmers and would be farmers were given an opportunity to move west to inexpensive, or often, free land. This was called homesteading. Pa Ingalls, Laura Ingalls Wilder's father was one of these would be farmers. Ms. Wilder wrote many books about her family's adventures in the west. Little House on the Prairie was the first.

A goal of this Chapter Chat is to add enjoyment to your reading and to help you understand the time in which Ms. Wilder lived. As a reader we can assume many roles. We may be outsiders looking at the lives of the people in the book. We may put ourselves in the place of one of the characters of the book. We may imagine ourselves as part of the story. Regardless of the role we assume we must become involved with the book to really understand what the author is telling us.