PBS is paying tribute to the woman who immortalized a little house on the prairie. Timed to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the publication of “Little House on the Prairie,” “American Masters: Laura Ingalls Wilder” promises “an unvarnished look at the unlikely author whose autobiographical fiction helped shape American ideas of the frontier and self-reliance,” according to a press release announcing the project.

The profile of the author will revisit how the Midwesterner published her first novel at age 65 and culled from her childhood experiences to write the “Little House” series. The doc, directed by Emmy winner Mary McDonagh Murphy (“Harper Lee: American Masters”), “delves into the legacy of the iconic pioneer as well as the way she transformed her early life into enduring legend, a process that involved a little-known collaboration with her daughter Rose,” the press release hints.

“American Masters: Laura Ingalls Wilder” will also delve into the problematic history of the “Little House” books. “Though Wilder’s stories emphasized real life and celebrated stoicism, she omitted the grimmer and contradictory details of her personal history: grinding poverty, government assistance, deprivation, and the death of her infant son,” the source notes. “In recent years, Wilder’s racist depictions of American Indians and Black people have stirred controversy, and made her less appealing to some readers, teachers, and librarians.”

The “Little House” books have served as inspiration for a number of adaptations, most notably a “Little House on the Prairie” series that ran on NBC from 1974-83. Melissa Gilbert played Laura Ingalls.

Set to premiere December 29 at 9 p.m. on PBS, “American Masters: Laura Ingalls Wilder” features never-before-published letters, photographs, and family artifacts and includes interviews with Gilbert, “Bad Feminist” writer Roxane Gay, and Caroline Fraser, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her Wilder biography.