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On the Banks of Plum Creek (Little House #4)
Laura's family's first home in Minnesota is made of sod, but Pa builds a clean new house made of sawed lumber beside Plum Creek. The money for materials will come from their first wheat crop. Then, just before the wheat is ready to harvest, a strange glittering cloud fills the sky, blocking out the sun. Soon millions of grasshoppers cover the field and everything on the fa...more
Compact Disc, Abridged, 96 pages
Published
April 15th 2003
by HarperFestival
(first published 1937)
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The 4th book in the Little House on the Prairie series and another wonderful read. Laura and her family have now moved to Minnesota, where they first live in what can only be described as a dugout, then move into a house that Pa builds. Everything's idyllic at first, especially with a beautiful creek nearby to play in, but unexpected hardships quickly arise, such as a plague of grasshoppers that destroys most of their wheat crop and a long blizzard that separates the family for days. Laura al...more
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Age Range - Intermediate
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder is a story about a young pioneer girl who moved with her family from the Indian Territory to Minnesota. The author takes us through all the challenges and hardships of growing up. Laura is eight years old and has her first school experience. She learns about helping out her family, and making new friends. She finds out how to be strong when her father doesn't come home in a blizzard. Laura sees happiness in be...more
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder is a story about a young pioneer girl who moved with her family from the Indian Territory to Minnesota. The author takes us through all the challenges and hardships of growing up. Laura is eight years old and has her first school experience. She learns about helping out her family, and making new friends. She finds out how to be strong when her father doesn't come home in a blizzard. Laura sees happiness in be...more
Good grief, as an adult and as a parent, have I grown too practical to read and completely enjoy these books?
When Ma and Pa packed up the kiddos and left the Big Woods because there were too many people, less land and game to go around, I thought a little bit to myself, Um...Pa, did we think through this completely? Are you sure? Are we safe? But Pa is supposed to be an example of Great American Spirit. So, fine, we let this happen. There were some bumps in the road, but oh boy, we ha...more
When Ma and Pa packed up the kiddos and left the Big Woods because there were too many people, less land and game to go around, I thought a little bit to myself, Um...Pa, did we think through this completely? Are you sure? Are we safe? But Pa is supposed to be an example of Great American Spirit. So, fine, we let this happen. There were some bumps in the road, but oh boy, we ha...more
Laura is now 8 and has "never felt so fine and frisky." Many wonderful things happen to her. She lives in a house with glass windows, goes to two parties, attends school, and receives a beautiful jewelry box and fur cape and muff for Christmas. However, she experiences many scary things as well. She nearly drowns in a flooding Plum Creek, survives a harsh winter; which reminded me of the winter of 2009-10 here in Philadelphia, but must have been much more difficult in a house with no c...more
Dawn Trlak-Donahue
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review of another edition
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Shelves:
children-classics,
children-non-fiction
Starting to really agree with a review I read of the Little House books. One woman wrote about how on top of things Alamonzo's family seemed in Farmer Boy. They had a permanent home, savings, etc. Whereas Papa Ingalls was a hot mess. He dragged the family away from their relatives in Wisconsin where they had a home, to Indian country. Along the way they were almost swept away down a river when he insisted they could cross it, wagon and all. (Jack, the dog, gets the short end of the stick overall...more
Of all the Little House books, this was my very favorite. I was exactly Laura’s age when I read it – eight – and at last, her life experience was close to mine; she began school! I re-read the chapters called “School,” “Nellie Oleson, “Town Party,” “Country Party,” and “Surprise,” hundreds if not thousands of times, just the way I would later re-read Elizabeth’s scenes at Pemberley, Dumbledore’s scenes with Harry, and lately, Daniel’s scenes with Mirah. What’s more, I’d discovered the TV series ...more
Another great classic from Wilder. These books are great reads and essentially timeless. There's a reason that Laura's life has captured the hearts of so many people and this book is a real good example of it.
Having left Indian territory, the Ingalls make their way to Minnesota where they trade their wagon and horses for a piece of land and a dugout house. Pa is determined to build them a proper home, but has to wait for a good wheat crop first. Laura and her sister Mary spend their da...more
Having left Indian territory, the Ingalls make their way to Minnesota where they trade their wagon and horses for a piece of land and a dugout house. Pa is determined to build them a proper home, but has to wait for a good wheat crop first. Laura and her sister Mary spend their da...more
This book chronicles the Ingalls' first years in Minnesota, and notably through a grasshopper infestation causing the destruction of crops and livelihood for two summers. The book ends on a happy note, with the family together for Christmas, and a promise of a successful harvest during the next year.
I am having such a blast reading this with Madeleine, and she is adoring the books. She is entranced by Laura and Mary, much as i must have been at her age. There are some difficult, and...more
I am having such a blast reading this with Madeleine, and she is adoring the books. She is entranced by Laura and Mary, much as i must have been at her age. There are some difficult, and...more
I brought out my set of Little House books for my husband to read to our four year old daughter. She loves hearing stories from these books over and over again. I had great fun rereading the first four books again! (I think we are going to stop at On the Banks of Plum Creek for now. As I was previewing the fifth book, By the Shores of Silver Lake I thought some story lines might be too mature for our four year old.)
From my childhood readings, I distinctly remember the grasshoppers...more
From my childhood readings, I distinctly remember the grasshoppers...more
What a wonderful story! I loved every word!
This is the third book in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, and so far the best. I love the descriptions of life on the prairies, where Laura and her family live first in a dug-out whose door is surrounded by pink, blue and purple morning glories (one of my favorite flowers, as it happens!), then they move into the house Pa built, with boughten shingles and boughten windows and doors. Unlike the big Woods, where there were wolves, or Indian Ter...more
This is the third book in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, and so far the best. I love the descriptions of life on the prairies, where Laura and her family live first in a dug-out whose door is surrounded by pink, blue and purple morning glories (one of my favorite flowers, as it happens!), then they move into the house Pa built, with boughten shingles and boughten windows and doors. Unlike the big Woods, where there were wolves, or Indian Ter...more
Plum Creek, Minnesota 1874. Nachdem Familie Ingalls ihre Farm im auf Indianergebiet auf Anordnung des Staates verlassen musste (Laura in der Prärie), zieht die siebenjährige Laura mit ihrer Familie wieder in Richtung Osten. Die Ingalls lassen sich zunächst in einem unterirdischen Erdhaus am Ufer von Plum Creek nieder, das Pa gegen die Pferde der Familie eintauscht. Hier beginnt für Laura und ihre Schwester Mary eine neue spannende Zeit, denn zum ersten Mal besuchen die beiden eine Schule und ler...more
I have read the Little House series a number of times now -- nearly always in the winter it seems; perhaps because so much of the books seems to take place when the family is struggling through blizzards and cold weather! Despite elements that make me occasionally cringe (in the first book, there's a song about an "old darkie"), and the conflicting emotions I feel when skimming quickly past these passages (these songs were real...the events were real...that is really what people were ...more
In this "Little House" story the Ingalls family has trekked from Indian territory to southwest Minnesota, near Walnut Grove. At first they live in a sod dugout, but quickly build a snug house near Plum Creek. The family stoically marches trough one trial after another. Pa busts his hump to put in a big wheat crop, only to have it all devoured by locusts. He needs to walk 300 miles to get farm work and leaves the women on their own. A prairie fire then threatens the place, and late...more
Type: {Bedtime Read: lulls you to sleep with sweet dreams.}
Rating: {I’m Lovin’ It: Very entertaining!}
Why You’re Reading It:
You’re a child or are reading to a child
You enjoy “light” historical fiction
Sweet stories are your thing
You never read the Little House series as a child and want to see what they’re all about
What I Thought:
On the Banks of Plum Creek is technically the fourth in the Little House series, though it is the third...more
Rating: {I’m Lovin’ It: Very entertaining!}
Why You’re Reading It:
You’re a child or are reading to a child
You enjoy “light” historical fiction
Sweet stories are your thing
You never read the Little House series as a child and want to see what they’re all about
What I Thought:
On the Banks of Plum Creek is technically the fourth in the Little House series, though it is the third...more
Ashley
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
ELLIE AND ELIZABETH AND KAYLEE AND BRIANNA AND LAURA AND MARRISSA
Recommended to Ashley by:
MY SISTER
Shelves:
books-i-loved
It was good.as u can see i am trying to read all the books.
The story of the Ingalls famiy continues in this fourth book of the Little House series. Forced to leave their home in Indian Territory, the family moves to the plains of Minnesota, where they struggle against the harsh realities of pioneer life. Their indominatable spirits flag at times but their family bonds, faith and strict adherence to right living see them through even the most horrendous of circumstances. Along the way, they make friends in the nearby town and experience a little bit o...more
This was my favorite in the Little House series growing up, and it is Audrey's (age 5) favorite so far. I love the setting (the Minnesotan plains now) and the adventures they go through in On the Banks of Plum Creek. The live in a dugout until Pa makes them a house with two rooms (!) and more than one glass window (!!) and a wood-burning stove (!!!). So much happens: Laura almost drowns, Laura's legs get covered in leeches, a glittering cloud of grasshoppers descends on the wheat fields and eats...more
I am re-reading all of the Little House books after reading Wendy McClure's "The Wilder Life". I also wanted to see what my thoughts would be on these books that I hadn't read since childhood. Well I now realize just how poor the Ingalls were and how Pa was a little reckless. Building that fancy new house on credit?! I must say that my memories of this book are different from the actual book. When I was younger I thought that this was my favourite Little House book. I can't say that it...more
The best thing about the Little House series is that, it just grab me and make me (I'm more than happy to) go into the book and to experience the story with them and have their meals. Comparing with the previous books I find this one bit depressing but it gives a strong picture of the hardships and wonders they must have undergone and experienced while moving west in the 1800s.
The unrelenting goodness of the entire Ingalls family, the love and understanding between Ma and Pa always get...more
The unrelenting goodness of the entire Ingalls family, the love and understanding between Ma and Pa always get...more
This was the first of Wilder's books that I read as a child. And re-read, and read again. Laura is 8 as we begin and only just now going to school (and learning to read!). The Ingalls family settles outside Walnut Grove (only known as "town" in the book), Minnesota in a dugout house, intending to stay and make a fortune off wheat -- so certain of this that Pa builds a new house on credit. And then the Grasshoppers come.
I always seem to want to read these books again during the...more
I always seem to want to read these books again during the...more
As a child reading this book I became immersed in a time and place far from my own modern suburban life. I was able to relate to Laura because like me she loved her pet dog and in her own way bucked social conventions. When they first arrive by covered wagon in 1850s Minnosota, the images of her living in a dug out house covered in prairie grass made me long to have a home in the earth. When I re-read this book to my daughter I was impressed by how Ingalls Wilder was able to make herself a char...more
In this book, Laura and her family move to Plum Creek, where her father builds a house with timber he plans to pay for with the fall wheat crop. However, a crowd of locusts come, and there goes the wheat crop. Laura and her family have to go through a lot of struggles to live on Plum Creek, but they always find a way to keep going and they never give up. Laura and Mary start school with the other children of Plum Creek. At school, Mary and Laura meet Nellie Olson, the daughter of the rich st...more
It's so interesting to re-read this series as an adult and sense how many things that I previously saw through childish eyes take on new significance now--for instance, the constant hardship of life on the open plains in Minnesota, and the seemingly unending trials of grasshoppers, prairie fires, and the need for Pa to go elsewhere to make money (what a timely lesson in our current economic situations of 2011!). There are many other things that remain comforting in their sameness as when I read...more
"On the Banks of Plum Creek" is the fourth book in the Little House series. Laura's family has moved to Minnesota so her Pa can grow wheat. They live only three miles from town; the closest they have ever lived to a town. Much of the book, Pa is away in the West working because of a disaster that happens to their wheat crop. Ma and the girls have to hold it together without Pa. I found myself wanting Pa to come home so badly to be with the girls and when he finally made it home, i...more
My kids and I are still reading this series aloud and still enjoying it. This particular installment, which was my favorite when I was a kid, raised lots of questions for my five-year-olds thanks to events like the grasshopper infestation and Nellie Olsen's meanness ("Why is she so mean?" asked my son, who then tried to find some way to make Nellie nice--those of you who've read this know that's impossible). Once again I'm struck by how difficult life was for pioneers in that time. Pa...more
I enjoyed Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie, but I really felt like Wilder hit her stride in this book. The foreshadowing was brilliant (feeding the grasshopper a blade of grass a little more so than the constant vocal worries about borrowing against the wheat crop, which were a little heavy handed), and I think the characters really became more three-dimensional in this book. There was less of the "here's how we did things back then" and more of just the st...more
The Ingalls have settled in Minnesota, and at first things seem pretty awesome for the family---they quickly find a place to live (in a dugout, which is an underground home) and soon Pa builds their own home and, for the first time, it's one with two rooms AND an attic, where Mary and Laura sleep. But soon things fall apart. Grasshoppers eat the crops and and there are fires and blizzards. Oh, AND we meet Nellie Oleson.
I think this is my new favorite of the series (and yes, I'm aw...more
I think this is my new favorite of the series (and yes, I'm aw...more
From the back of the book:
'When the Ingalls family decides to move west to Minnesota, Laura is certain she won't like her new home. Her feelings quickly change as she and Mary make friends and Pa's wheat crop flourishes. Things take a turn for the worse when a cloud of grasshoppers destroys the crops and Pa is forced to leave to find work. Now it's Laura's chance to prove that she can help her family to survive'.
This is the bleakest of the series so far, although the way the ...more
'When the Ingalls family decides to move west to Minnesota, Laura is certain she won't like her new home. Her feelings quickly change as she and Mary make friends and Pa's wheat crop flourishes. Things take a turn for the worse when a cloud of grasshoppers destroys the crops and Pa is forced to leave to find work. Now it's Laura's chance to prove that she can help her family to survive'.
This is the bleakest of the series so far, although the way the ...more
Book four in the Little House series.
Laura and her family have to leave their little house on the prairie because it is too far into Indian territory. Once again, they pack their belongings in the covered wagon and this time settle in Minnesota. They move into a tiny sod house on the edge of Plum Creek, but before long, Pa builds a new house with store bought lumber and real glass for the windows. Of course, he borrows against the future profits from the wheat crop. When locusts ...more
Laura and her family have to leave their little house on the prairie because it is too far into Indian territory. Once again, they pack their belongings in the covered wagon and this time settle in Minnesota. They move into a tiny sod house on the edge of Plum Creek, but before long, Pa builds a new house with store bought lumber and real glass for the windows. Of course, he borrows against the future profits from the wheat crop. When locusts ...more
In my opinion, this is one of the most depressing of the books in the Little House series. The story is littered with near-death accidents, poor decision making, and disasters of all kinds. People who watched the TV show like this one because it has a lot of the story lines/characters from the show...or so I'm told. (I grew up on the books, not the show.) However, On the Banks of Plum Creek is actually one of my least favorites in the series now that I'm an adult. It still has some great de...more
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Ingalls wrote a series of historical fiction books for children based on her childhood growing up in a pioneer family. She also wrote a regular newspaper column and kept a diary as an adult moving from South Dakota to Missouri, the latter of which has been published as a book.
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“She heard pa shouting,"Jiminy crickets!It's raining fish-hooks and hammer handles!”
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