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OU Graduate Student Mirrors Life Of Laura Ingalls Wilder
By: Taylor Pool
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One Ohio University creative writing graduate student is so passionate about a book series that she took a two-week long trip around the country and wrote a book about it.
Kelly Kathleen Ferguson traveled to all the places Laura Ingalls Wilder lived and wrote about in the Little House series.
Wilder was an American author who wrote the Little House series of books based on her childhood in a pioneer family
Ferguson says she didn't know what to expect.
"Sometimes it was just a little tourist log cabin and I'd be a little bit wanting more like 'I wish it was the 19th century again and I could see the world as Laura saw it,' and sometimes it felt very magical, especially on the prairies, that I think felt very similar to what she experienced," says Ferguson.
The majority of Wilder's books take place in South Dakota.
Ferguson describes her first time in this state as "surreal."
"I loved the prairies of South Dakota the most. I really fell in love with the dry air, and the wind, and standing out there, and no trees. The cover of my book is South Dakota," says Ferguson.
As a part of her journey, Ferguson wore a prairie dress the whole time which she says added to the experience.
Ferguson appeared Friday night on WOUB Television's Newswatch program.