60 books like Little House on the Prairie

As an author, I love telling stories set on the frontier and populated by pioneers. That has a lot to do with the books I read long ago. My characters tend to have their heads in the clouds, like Ken from Mary O’Hara’s My Friend Flicka. They dream of towering peaks, promising paths, and opportunities beyond the world they grew up in. Back in high school, I took an elective class—Historical Fiction—I wasn’t even sure what that was! We read The Source by James Michener. When I’m not hiking or dreaming about horses, there’s nothing I love more than making up wilderness stories set in the 1800s.

As an author, I love telling stories set on the frontier and populated by pioneers. That has a lot to do with the books I read long ago. My characters tend to have their heads in the clouds, like Ken from Mary O’Hara’s My Friend Flicka. They dream of towering peaks, promising paths, and opportunities beyond the world they grew up in. Back in high school, I took an elective class—Historical Fiction—I wasn’t even sure what that was! We read The Source by James Michener. When I’m not hiking or dreaming about horses, there’s nothing I love more than making up wilderness stories set in the 1800s.

I grew up in suburbia—or urban sprawl—with fairytales and children’s nonfiction series like Lands and Peoples. My passion for reading (and history and art museums) nurtured my sense of wonder and awe at the richness of the world. I was inspired to write nonfiction about heroic people by my own children, whose social studies education lacked dazzle and examples of heroism. I had already been creating educational materials for schools, but I wanted to inspire their wonder about and appreciation of the world. My kids are grown, but I’m still writing for young readers. An avid world traveler and historian, I've always aspired to bring other people, places, cultures, and times to life.

As a writer and a mom, and a former teacher, and someone who constantly has to pay attention to the world we live in today, I feel especially compelled to find a good balance for parents to help their kids love reading without compromising their childhood innocence. As adults, we know we live in a broken world. But telling kids about these things without giving them a reason to hope for a better future or without giving them a good role model is more detrimental than helpful. It dooms them to nihilism and cynicism, and only a mature mind is able to successfully break free from that mind trap. 

I am a teacher, so I have to find books that are engaging enough for the kids to stay interested for long periods of reading time. Also, I have 11 kids and 19 grandkids (and still counting…) so we spend a lot of time reading at my house. The books on my list are the ones that the kids wait in line for and have a waiting list to get to have their turn with it.  Sometimes I just have 5 copies of the ones everyone loves. Simple mysteries are my favorite.

I love a well-written historical fiction novel that immerses me in the time period and introduces a female character I can relate to. We may live in different times, but women in all eras feel love, attempt and fail, find strength, perform heroic deeds,  suffer mishaps, and experience life. Escaping into their stories makes me question what I would have done in their shoes as well as think about how my own story is still being written. As a historical fiction author, I seek to create those relationships between my characters and readers.

Books have the power to change your life, that is, if you can find a story that inspires you. As a multiple-time CEO and board director I noticed the lack of fiction books with smart, strong, and positive female leaders- that’s why I started writing the Ceiling Smasher series. My first novel, The Closer, is about the first female CEO of a sports company and the secret society of professional women, called the Ceiling Smashers, who help her succeed. The books on this list are based on true stories about extraordinary women who demonstrated courage, brainpower, and grit to achieve great things and blaze new trails- who wouldn’t be inspired by that?

My favorite books as a child were the ones where kids went off on wild, impossible adventures alone, figuring things out, learning important lessons, and finding they were more capable than they thought. Wisdom, truth, insight, inspiration… those are the treasures found in these fantastical places. I’ve written (and told) stories all my life, but it wasn’t until I was in my fifties that my goal of publishing a book was realized. And now I have four more coming out (Lord willing!) within the next year and a half. It’s never too late. Unless you’re dead, then you blew it. So don’t stop trying, whatever your goals are.

I’m a former high-school and middle-school English teacher and a current instructor in the Writing Program at Rutgers University. I live in hilly New Jersey, but I’ve always been fascinated by the flat, treeless American prairie and the people who have lived there, from the Native American tribes of the Great Plains to the early homesteaders. I believe that to understand where we are, you need to understand where we’ve been, which is why I love to read and write historical fiction.

I’m a former high-school and middle-school English teacher and a current instructor in the Writing Program at Rutgers University. I live in hilly New Jersey, but I’ve always been fascinated by the flat, treeless American prairie and the people who have lived there, from the Native American tribes of the Great Plains to the early homesteaders. I believe that to understand where we are, you need to understand where we’ve been, which is why I love to read and write historical fiction.