The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life: How to Sew a Sampler Quilt & 49 Other Pioneer Projects for the Modern Girl

by Jennifer Worick

Frontier fun meets a home-spun touch in this heart-warming mixture of pioneer projects and wistful nostalgia. Jennifer Worick teaches readers how to sew a quilt, master the art of bread-and-butter pickles, speak old-time slang, and much much more. This is for the legions of Laura Ingalls Wilder fans who have dreamed of what a pioneer life out on the prairie would be like. Combining step-by-step how-to on crafts, with tongue-in-cheek instructions on prairie slang, winning a spelling bee, and singing a lullaby, The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life allows fans to finally act out their childhood dreams or to simply enjoy the vicarious thrill of reading about it one more time. This is a book that will pull at the heart strings of every childhood Laura and also teach us a few prairie-time crafts along the way.

Genres: Nonfiction, Crafts, Cooking, History, Lifestyle, Reference

208 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

I write. That’s rather obvious. Mostly I write about things that blow my skirt up. Humor is a big—huge—part of everything I do. But then there’s that soft, squishy sentimental part of me that can’t help but rear its heartfelt head. And since I like to tell people what to do every chance I get, I write a lot of how-to books, blogs, and articles.

Humorous. Heartfelt. How-to. Three great tastes that taste great together, at least in my cereal bowl.

So let’s get down to it. I know you don’t have all day to ogle my bio, as much as a girl can dream. Here’s what you should know off the bat: I’m the New York Times best-selling author of more than 25 books and, per Reader’s Digest, one of the four funniest bloggers in the US. Pretty cool, eh?

I’ve written on everything under the sun for national magazines and websites like The Huffington Post, Allure, and Salon, and I currently write a books column for today.com. In addition to bookshelves, newsstands, and your favorite websites, you can also find me online at Things I Want to Punch in the Face.

Along with fellow author and publishing pro Kerry Colburn, I deliver publishing talks, workshops, and webinars to help burgeoning authors get published through The Business of Books. You can also catch me in university auditoriums, where I offer up side-splitting but informative slide-show presentations based on my popular books.

Originally from Southwestern Michigan, I currently live in Seattle, where I eschew fleece while eating more fish and chips than is good for me.

Reviews

[Inder · Rating 1 out of 5]

Since I've taken it upon myself to read and review every single book on self-sufficient living, despite the fact that I live in urban Oakland and work in even more urban San Francisco (as a LAWYER, sheesh), I picked this one up at the library.

To summarize: Eh.

The projects aren't that interesting (or would be more interesting if there was a decent picture and you knew what you were getting into), the instructions are simplistic (and at times downright dangerous, according to other reviewers - specifically, the canning instructions are explosion-prone, though you'd have to be an idiot to try to learn canning from such a flip and shallow treatment, so hopefully no one hurt themselves), and there isn't enough of a sense of history to keep me interested. You can learn a ton more from just reading the "Little House on the Prairie" books that the author borrows so liberally from for quotes. Now, those books had a sense of history.

The prose is boring and self-absorbed. Sorry, I hate to be so harsh about anyone's account of their own life (I'm very pro-memoir), but when I wasn't skimming desperately, in hopes of better things to come, I was turned off by the author's immature ramblings about her idylic (1970s!) childhood. Puleeeeze!

Maybe I would've liked it better if it was full of gorgeous, well-styled, glossy photos, because when a book is full of pretty pictures, I don't focus as much on the text. But with such promising material (pioneer crafts!! oh how I long for a really lovely treatment of the subject!), this book was just shallow and flippant, and fell far short of my expectations.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Skims over topics.
Additional resources are necessary for anything I'd be interested in learning.
Even something as simple as playing jacks only has the bare minimum of instructions. There are so many variations while playing, yet she only includes the basic game.

Some of the activities need special "equipment". In which case, I'd ask the specialist involved so it doesn't become dangerous. For example, if I decide to milk a cow, I would ask the owner of the cow to show me so I don't get kicked in the head.

The author needed to take a class on how to cure meat in order to include instructions. Yet her readers are expected to get by with the same information that is likely included on the nitrites mix.

Finally, I will leave you with this gem: "Natural Insect Repellant - forego deodorant, many people swear that going au natural prevents bug bites"

[Jeanette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, I was just not impressed with this little book. Apparently, the author did not grow up on the prairie or even a farm, although she did live close to her grandparent's farm. She was trying to evoke the feel of women on the prairie while writing about growing up in the Michigan suburbs during the 1970s. It just did not work.
The book is a hodgepodge of ideas and crafts but none of them seemed especially unique or especially pioneerish. Some sections seemed, I don't know, unnecessary? Like telling me that I need patience and educated guesses to predict the weather and that to go sledding I will need a sled and a hill. You don't say!
There were 2 or 3 projects that I think I might like to try but I think I will have to turn to another source for better directions because the ones in this book were lacking. I don't think I am going to learn to quilt with only a few pages of instructions. I have had a hankering to try my hand at making some rock candy since I read this, so I guess it was not a complete waste of time.

[Lauri Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent companion to little house on the prairie. Includes how to make rock candy, how to take a sponge bath, and how to host a soap making party.

[Ligaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found many of the project directions to be very superficial. There is no way one would figure out how to knit from this book. The gardening tip was perplexing and the brief section on creating a vegetable garden was almost laughable except I was hoping people wouldn't be so disappointed in their failure to never try again. I guess this interested me because it LOOKED so promising. I loved the illustrations within and the deckle-edge pages but soon tired of the gender-conforming stereotypes. I didn't mind the author's writing style but her treatment of the subject manner was too simple.

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like many other reviewers, I found this book to be rather Eh.

While it may have provided me with some project inspiration, it did not provide addequte instruction on how to actually complete those projects.

Disappointing.

[Amelia in PDX · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit disappointing... Most of this is based on how the "Little House on the Prairie" books influenced her way of life, as a young girl & now (2007) when she wrote the book. Each "skill" is only 3 to 6 pages & just a basic intro to it. Several references to the above series throughout the book.

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Darling little book. I don’t think there’s enough info/instruction to accomplish the pioneer tasks easily but it is fun for prairie chic inspo.

[Sarah Apsey-Barres · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't exactly *read* this book so much as peruse it. Being non-fiction it's not the type of book you sit down to read like say, oh, Little House on the Prairie. That being said I found myself unable to put it down and so I did kind of start at the beginning and go straight through to the end because I was so curious to find out what all these pioneer projects were! Did I try any of the projects? No. Will I? Hard to say, but that is not because the book is lacking for instruction. If I had my way about things I would try them all; alas, real life is not so accommodating. I picked up this book because for some reason I got a bug up my sleeve about "living off the grid" and I was inhaling anything and everything relating to that. By inhaling I mean, bookmarking them on Delicious for later perusal. Then the bug went away and my whims moved on to other things, HA!

As far as living off the grid goes, this book provides many steps toward that end without beating you over the head with the political overtones and deeper meaning as other books on the subject will give you. Ms. Worick takes a very jovial look back at some of the activities she remembers from her childhood, things she maybe slightly took for granted back then but truly cherishes now. Really, this book is not only an ode to simpler times but also serves as a terrific springboard for a different kind of ladies' night, or if you just want to dip your toes into the lifestyle of a time long ago, but hardly forgotten thanks to Jennifer Worick's nice little chronicle here.

[Adriane Devries · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an admirer of all things homegrown, homespun, or otherwise smacking of Amish, I enjoyed many of the anecdotal, if not all the practical, stories and philosophy of Jennifer Worick’s The Prairie Girl’s Guide to Life. Touting age-old virtues of snowforts, cooking in the kitchen, and above all, reading, as opposed to the modern distractions of digital media & living hectic lives out of our SUVs, Worick gives alternatives to entertainment that once were essential to survival on the frontier. When they had no hair salons, they braided each other’s hair--and rugs out of rags, for that matter. When they had no Walmart, they sewed and repaired their own clothing; made their own candles, candies, pickles and pies; milked their own cows, and even panned for gold. Though Worick teaches how to do many of these things today (my favorites included weather forecasting tips and recipes for natural cleaning products), part of me still wants to buy a patch off Amazon rather than spend hours darning a sock. Some modern conveniences, like internet shopping, can actually free up time to do things that cannot otherwise be bought or made: time playing games with your family or reading by a blazing fireplace built of wood cut from a friend’s surplus trees, for example. Nevertheless, read this short & gentle volume for both entertainment and inspiration, and pick and choose from amongst the time-comprehensive projects contained within to stretch your prairie girl (or boy) muscles and to remind us to appreciate modernity without being enslaved to it.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Prairie Girl’s Guide to Life: by Jennifer Worick is as informative as it is adorable. Jennifer has a way with words and I found myself smiling through most of this book. At the beginning she talks about the Little House series, and she sucked me right in. I love Laura Ingalls Wilder!

From the inside cover: “Whether looking to escape today’s hectic world or get in touch with your creative self, there’s comfort in returning to the simple life on the prairie. While you may not have to truss a turkey or embroider a pillowcase on a daily basis, it pays for a modern gal to possess the skills of a pioneer woman, especially in a challenging urban landscape.” SEE, adorable! I love this book!

What you will learn in this book:

Predict the weather
Embroider a pillowcase
Bake a rhubarb pie
Make bread & butter pickles
Knit a shawl
Make a night cream
Braid hair
Prepare sweet cherries
Lay a fire
Pan for gold
Make rock candy
Braid a rug
Make candles
Spin yarn
Milk a cow

You can buy this book here: http://www.jenniferworick.com/books.php

You can keep up with Jennifer Worick on a regular basis by checking out her blog, “Prairie Tales”: http://jenniferworick.blogspot.com/

[Tatiana Gomez · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book tried way too hard: to be funny, to be quirky, to be old-fashioned, to be useful. In the end it was none of the above. It is the sort of book which, in honoring a tradition of resourcefulness and reuse, asks you to go and buy materials for a craft (like buying twenty different ingredients and supplies for "homemade" soap.) I'm really not a fan of homemade things that require a trip to the store. Worick also included directions for asinine things like how to give pets a bath or how to braid hair in a three strand braid. Her directions for somewhat interesting or normal crafts: knitting, embroidery, quilting, are difficult to follow and only cover the absolute beginner steps. There are MUCH better books out there for learning these skills. Her biography says she writes for Allure and Men's Health, and I believe it. This reads like an extended magazine article in the worst kind of way.

The only thing I'd recommend this book for is giving as a gift to someone who you dislike, maybe someone of the recent hipster type who particularly deserves a reminder that not everything professing to be "different" or "old-fashioned" actually embodies the true spirit of the era and not all have any merit today.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well put together, and the Little House references are accurate, but kinda cutesy for my tastes, and the directions for activities/projects aren't very thorough. The projects aren't particularly unusual or exciting in the first place. The canning directions are downright dangerous--I wrote to the publisher and haven't received a response.

ETA: I never did hear from the publisher, but today I ran into a mention of this book and went back to Amazon to make sure I'd written a review there that pointed out the terrible canning instructions. The book seems to have disappeared from Amazon; it's still on B&N, with an errata message about what was "inadvertently omitted" from the canning instructions. Looking back on the author's blog, I see that shortly after I wrote to the publisher, the author posted that her mother doesn't bother with canning properly (well, that's how I'd put it), but here are the USDA directions...

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a heart-warming pleasure to read! Although the title leads you to believe it is merely a pioneer crafting book, it is actually full of anecdotes and history, the best parts of the book, in my opinion! Some of the actual crafts, however, are a little over-ambitious. The title and introduction lead you to believe that any modern girl with the pioneer spirit can accomplish the projects outlined, but in reality many of them require previous know-how and/or materials not listed. And the "selling-point" is that you can learn to make a sampler quilt, and I'm sorry, but if you don't sew (I don't) there's NO WAY you can make a quilt following the directions and "diagrams" (pencil drawings of needles and thread) in this book. This book is fabulous in theory, so read it for inspiration, and it will make you want to do things pioneer style...just be prepared to look up other sources for the actual know-how.

[Melissa Guimont · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always had an interest in how people do things that have long been forgotten. I picked this book up with an interest in how someone did common household chores without the modern conveniences of our time. I found out that we should not always cast aside the "old ways" of doing things as they have a lot of value in them. I learned how to properly dress a turkey, how to stack a fire, how to darn some socks and much, much more. Some of them were mainly instructions meant for entertainment purposes (such as how to whittle, how to play jacks, etc). Some of them were things I already knew (how to square dance, how to string popcorn/cranberries for Christmas). Some were just plain silly (how to court a suitor, how to throw an ice cream social). Either way, this was a fantastic find that I would recommend to anyone wondering how we did things back in the day and how some of those techniques should still be relevant in today's modern world.

[Marcie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I purchased this book for a friend's birthday right after it was released and figured I'd grab a copy for myself. I recently pulled the book back out to reread to decide if it was worth keeping or not....and the answer is not. I was enchanted with the book back in 2007 but 14 years later I'm appalled by some of the information given in the book. For example, I've been canning for almost a decade and the canning instructions for various recipes in the book are no longer recommended the way described (nor were they in 2007). Following them can result in food spoilage and botulism poisoning. I also could not believe the author would give such simplified directions with no pictures for curing 25 lbs of pork belly and making soap with lye. Not all of the projects are dangerous or unrealistic (I liked the prairie shawl knitting pattern) but in hindsight I'd never pay full price for this book if I were buying it now.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book in that it isn't really a story, but a how to book. Interspersed through the book are vignettes of country life, the authors growing up and patterns, recipes and how to's to take you back to a simpler time. You are taught how to brine a turkey for thanksgiving dinner, make a sampler quilt, bottle pickles, make your own face cream and other pioneer style crafts. she also adds a dictionary of sorts for the slang or dialect of the 1800's. I found it fascinating and very useful. Anyone who is curious about this type of thing or wants to learn simple ways of saving money and having fun doing it (even for kids) would enjoy this book.

[Rhiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Prairie Girl’s Guide to Life is part cookbook, part craft guide, and part memoir. Worick lays out 50 projects inspired by life on the American prairie during pioneer times. According to the introduction, the real inspiration for the book was the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, as chronicled in her Little House on the Prairie series.

Read more at Suite101: The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life: Jennifer Worick's Instruction Book on Pioneer Projects http://craftbooks.suite101.com/articl...

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another book I looked at for research while writing my Nanowrimo novel set in the Midwest in 1888. This was about an era several decades before when my story began, but it had some helpful information about common ways to cook a meal and other domestic tasks like making candles, smoking meat, etc. While many of the instructions are for the modern girl and use modern conveniences, there are short sections before the modern girl's instructions that describe the techniques used back in the day.

[Victoria (hotcocoaandbooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really fun book filled with ideas and some history about what girls would do on the prairie in the 1800s. I truly hope to try quite a few of the projects mentioned in it. There are many things from how to make rock candy, how to make candles, rugs, quilts, natural remedies, embroidered details to towels or pillows, wildflower crowns, how to go sledding, how to groom a horse, how to milk a cow, etc. Loads of fun.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute book. The author writes in a fun and engaging way. I like that you can actually try some of the crafts, recipes, etc. in the book. For example, I've always wanted to make a rag rug, and her simple instructions have motivated me to start collecting scraps to make one someday soon.

The book was just a cute, funny, engaging page turner. If you are interesting in Pioneering times, you will probably get a kick out of this little book like I did.

[Juicy_Groot · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book brought back lots of memories.Like the author I was painfully obsessed with Little House on the Prairie.I went as Laura for Halloween and would make "modern' corncob dolls (with google eyes!) that I still have.
This book is a cute read and I read it all in one sitting. I already knew how to do most of the projects so it didn't really teach me anything new but it's still a nice read. =)

[Lain · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really disappointed in this book. It's not a memoir, a cookbook, or a craft book, but instead a hodgepodge of all sorts of things. I was expecting more of a strong narrative, a la the Pioneer Woman, and it just didn't deliver. The recipes were much too generic and simple (applesauce? Really?) and the craft projects didn't have enough detail to make the book worthwhile.

The writing wasn't bad; there just wasn't enough in this small volume to recommend it. Not going to finish.

[Ginger · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a cute book... I read it more for the novelty than anything else... Some of her projects might be fun to try, like making soap, but some, such as panning for gold, would have been better left out of the book. All in all, 2 stars means I liked it, but it wasn't as great as it could have been.

[Helena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. It had great descriptions, several projects I wanted to try, and the author kept things light and funny while still being quite informative. I liked it a lot better than The Wilder Life, which was a pleasant surprise as for some reason I expected it to be similar. I even got some good ideas for activities to incorporate into our homeschool lessons this year.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Panning for gold? Seriously? Some of these ideas were really neat, and others seemed designed to take up space. I wish the directions had been laid out more clearly, but there were some cool things I'd like to make.

[Jen Dent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not rocket science but prairie science. Has a charming reverence for skills that I think people should generally know. Some parts that were helpful included: making a poultice, making rag curlers, how to sew a sampler quilt, milk a cow.

[Aletha]

This looks fun but I heard that part of the canning instructions is missing from it. I love old-timey arts and have learned to can over the summer. I already sew but would love to see what this book has!

[Mary Cody · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is fun. I only gave it three stars because I am fairly certain no one will want to do every project in it. I am also sure it isn't a book for everyone. If you like to make stuff, enjoy history of the 'Little House' type, this is a cute read.

[Brittany]

Do you want a simpler life? Would you like to know a few lost arts? Or are you simply interested in knowing the secret to survival before the ready-made, the pre-processed, and the mass-produced? I recommend a rocking chair, a glass of iced tea, and a Prairie Girl's Guide to Life.