Convinced that the Big Woods is getting too citified and that opportunity lies in the vastness of the West, Pa makes a decision that will alter the lives of his families and will, unbeknownst to him, later engender one of the most beloved children’s books of the twentieth (and twenty-first) centuries.įollowing the travails of pioneers Laura looks back with an adult perspective, seeding just enough conversation and tension into the tale to highlight the disquiet between the settlers and the Indians from whom they stole the land. In the second book in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s memoir Laura, Mary, Ma, Pa, Jack and Baby Carrie are heading into the greatest adventures of their lives – they are heading west. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed especially when I supplemented the hardbound version with those detailed charcoal pictures for an unabridged audio book version where Pa’s fiddle truly got to sing. The sense of specialness, the just good storytelling quality, and the bouncy enthusiasm of childhood pours from these happy memoirs taking readers to the long ago and far, far away to a place and a time where a little brown haired child captivates us with stories of wolves, settlers, fever, house building, playtime on the empty prairie, Indians, and the regrets and adventure of moving on. So, when I saw a big leather-bound compendium with the well known and loved picture of two little girls staring out of the back of a covered wagon, I knew it was time to revisit my childhood.

All of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and the Rose books were read through, re-read and cherished during these years, marking a sacred mother/daughter occasion and a memory that brings peace to me years later. My childhood days spent in a cozy perfect bubble doing handwriting classes at the big, polished dining room table with my mother and looking at our two special azaleas bringing in the verdure of spring were accompanied by many books and many happy memories. Rating: Little House on the Prairie: A Classic That Remains Cozy and Heartfelt

Little house on the prairie novel