Prairie man My Little House life & beyond

Little House on the Prairie actor Butler delivers a sweet if superficial debut memoir about his early life and acting career. Born in British Columbia in 1956, Butler grew up in Northern California, where his first performances were in an elementary school show choir. He chalks up his eventual turn toward acting to a job announcing high school basketball games ("Everything that has happened since can be traced back to that moment when Mr. Cochran pointed me to the microphone"). The bulk of the book sheds light on Butler's screen credits, beginning with the 1978 adaptation of Judy Blume's Forever and focusing primarily on his five-year stint, from 1979 to 1983, as Almanzo Wilder in Little House on the Prairie. He shares regrets about his lack of sensitivity to the eight-year age difference between him and series lead Melissa Gilbert, who played his love interest ("Today that... difference is a tiny gap, but forty-five years ago, it was the Grand Canyon"), and muses on his complicated relationship with costar Michael Landon. Other behind-the-scenes sections, covering Butler's work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and numerous documentaries, generate occasional interest, but there's not a lot of substance. This is for die-hard Little House on the Prairie fans only. Agent: Danita Florace, AEF Talent. (June)

This book was published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the 1974--83 TV series Little House on the Prairie. Butler, who starred as Laura Ingalls Wilder's husband, Almanzo, pens a memoir to go with Melissa Gilbert's Prairie Tale and Karen Grassle's Bright Lights, Prairie Dust. Born in Canada in 1956 but a fifth-generation Californian, he believes that being raised to be polite helped him land the beloved TV role at 23. He acknowledges his devotion to the series that made him famous, but he doesn't shy away from addressing controversies surrounding the show or the children's books on which it was based. That includes his on-screen kiss with his TV wife, played by a then-15-year-old Gilbert, and author Laura Ingalls Wilder's negative depiction of Indigenous peoples. He is also forthcoming about misogyny and sexual harassment in Hollywood. VERDICT Butler adeptly chronicles his trajectory into television, film, and Broadway and as a producer, and he's candid about his personal and career achievements and missteps. He is as charming a writer as an actor. Fans will enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at his life and career.--Denise Miller