A country girl at heart. I think my love of books and history began when my mom read the Little House series to my sister and me as tots. Even in infancy, I was captivated by the simple but brightly worded stories of Laura's adventures. We constantly played "prairie girls" in the backyard of our suburban home, imagining we were setting up house in the wild American West. To this day, I think Laura would be my historical figure of choice to sit down to coffee with.