Barbara Walker discovered the "Little House" series when her daughter, Anna, was four and fond of serial stories and kitchen craft. What began as pleasant diversion - recreating frontier food - became serious study for the author after a family trip west by way of some Little House sites. Eight years of intermittent reading, writing, and testing produced The Little House Cookbook. Anna is now married and has her own little house. Barbara Walker still writes on a variety of subjects from the home she shares with her husband outside Ossining, New York. She regrets the disappearance of lard piecrust, hard cheese, and sausage from her diet but finds solace in making bread from her original sourdough starter. Garth Williams's classic illustrations for the Little House books caused Laura to remark that she "and her folks live again in these pictures." Garth Williams also illustrated Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and almost one hundred other books.