ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
OLDER FICTION
Park, Linda Sue

Prairie Lotus

260 pp. | Clarion | March, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-1-328-78150-5 $16.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-10-358-33083-7
(1) YA In 1880, fourteen-year-old Hanna and her father settle in the (fictional) town of LaForge, in Dakota Territory. Papa is white; Hanna's late mother immigrated from China and had both Chinese and Korean ancestry. LaForge is modeled on De Smet, South Dakota, where four of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books took place. Park's novel is clearly in conversation with that series, from Hanna's friendlier interactions with, and more thoughtful views about, members of the Ihanktonwan tribe to racist attitudes among LaForge's townspeople, who object to Hanna's presence in the school and blame her after a local man assaults her. But this novel stands on its own, with a vividly drawn protagonist in self-reliant Hanna, who has plenty of complex relationships: with her stubborn father, with her much-missed mother, with her classmate Bess, with a well-meaning but conflict-averse teacher. An author's note explains the "fancy mental gymnastics" Park, who is Korean American and loved Wilder's series growing up, needed to do as a child in order to imagine herself as Laura's best friend, and describes the author's ongoing conflict with the books' problematic elements.
Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2020

RELATED 

OLDER FICTION

What Beauty There Is
by Anderson, Cory
OLDER FICTION

Between Perfect and Real
by Stoeve, Ray
OLDER FICTION

Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good
by Werlin, Nancy
OLDER FICTION

Home Is Not a Country
by Elhillo, Safia
OLDER FICTION

All Our Hidden Gifts
by O'Donoghue, Caroline
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?