The Little House on the Prairie
American pioneers were a strong-willed people ruled by wanderlust, optimism, and an intense drive to persevere and succeed in the face of incredible odds and grave danger.  Based on the autobiographical novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder, this 255-minute 2004 Disney television miniseries (not the Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert series from the 1970's) tells Laura's story of her family's dangerous and exhausting journey by covered wagon from an economically depressed Wisconsin to the promising land of Kansas.  While the land proves plentiful in Kansas, the hardships of setting up a homestead and co-existing with the Indians are intense.   Through their struggles, the Ingalls family comes to appreciate the true value of the help and companionship of their fellow man and realizes the relative insignificance of their many outward differences.  While their neighbor Mrs. Scott and most of the rest of their American contemporaries readily stereotype the Indians as an evil race devoid of redeeming qualities, the Ingalls are more compassionate, presuming the Indian population to be comprised of both good and bad people.  The Ingalls family's tolerance for the Indians allows them to peacefully co-exist on the prairie for a time and engenders a tenuous sense of respect with one influential tribe member which serves the family well.Little House on the Prairiebrings theLaura Ingalls Wilder booksand the westward expansion of the American pioneers to life and is recommended viewing for ages 6 and older.--Tami Horiuchi