Little House on the Prairie (Little House, #2)

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Little House on the Prairie (Little House #2)

by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Cherry Jones (Narrator)

4.08 · rating details · 47,043 ratings · 1,269 reviews

America's Original Pioneer Girl

Pa Ingalls decides to sell the little log house, and the family sets out for Indian country They travel from Wisconsin to Kansas, and there, finally, Pa builds their little house on the prairie. Sometimes farm life is difficult, even dangerous, but Laura and her family are kept busy and happy with the promise of their new life on the prairi

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Analog Audio Cassette, 5 pages

Published April 27th 2003 by HarperFestival (first published 1935)

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Jul 30, 2008

Emily rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: childrensfiction

Okay, it's a great American classic, I realize that. We read it in third grade and obviously the pioneer-go-forth-and-push-westward philosophy is a central feature in the proud American mindset and heritage. But it's for that very reason that the value of the book needs to be questioned.

While much of the story focuses on a family's self-reliance on the Kansas prairie, the book preceding it - LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS - does the same with the exception that the Ingalls family wa...moreOkay, it's a great American classic, I realize that. We read it in third grade and obviously the pioneer-go-forth-and-push-westward philosophy is a central feature in the proud American mindset and heritage. But it's for that very reason that the value of the book needs to be questioned.

While much of the story focuses on a family's self-reliance on the Kansas prairie, the book preceding it - LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS - does the same with the exception that the Ingalls family was integrated into a functioning Wisconsin community of relatives and neighbors. That book, however, is NOT the famous one after which a television series was made.

WHY the Ingalls family felt the need to abandon their community and settle in what was in fact disputed Indian Territory other than out of a lust for adventure is insufficiently explained. Unlike immigrants of the time, American pioneers like the Ingalls were not driven to the new land by persecution or famine at home. They drove themselves there and expected the local Indians to like it or stay out of the way. The Indians are portrayed as mysterious savages who are ultimately given what actually belonged to the hard-working white family. (I'm not at all surprised it was written in the 1930's.)

My third grade class was outraged at the injustice of the U.S. government telling the Ingalls to abandon their self-made cabin for the Indians, yet no one was outraged in the beginning when they arrived and no one was asked to question this. Stories like the Ingalls' are history that cannot be changed or forgotten, but like all history should be constantly questioned.

I would read this to children and elementary/middle school classes, but not without a corresponding story from the perspective of the Plains Indians, and not without asking children important follow-up questions to spark dialogue. Did the Ingalls have to leave Wisconsin? Would you have? Why do you think they decided to? Were the Ingalls malicious, naive, or justified in their pursuit? Can the rural dislike of government involvement be traced back to stories like theirs? Why was this story so popular in the 1930's, 40's, and 50's? Why is it still popular today?

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Jun 22, 2008

Laurel Wicke rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: read-to-logan

I am a fan of the Laura Ingall's Wilder books, and I am enjoying them even more as an adult, sharing them with my daughter. This one moved a bit more slowly than Little House in the Big Woods, but I was still fascinated. I can hardly imagine a life so primitive. Some say Pa was crazy for moving his family away from the Big Woods where they had a solid footing, but the settler's spirit is responsible for the growth and development of our country and is still the heart of the American way. Who...more

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Nov 04, 2007

Mike Angelillo rated it

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I bought the CD of this story for my 4 year old daughter and have spent many days listening to it in the car with her.

This book should clearly be renamed "Pa's follies" as the entire story is about him bumbling from one misadventure to the next....

1. Pa leads the family across a frozen lake Peppin. The very next morning the family hears the ice on the lake start to crack and break up. By the luck of one day the Ingalls family is spared a frozen death.

...more

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Oct 17, 2010

Jillian rated it

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Shelves: classics, ▬not-a-fan, 2010, childrens

The whole time I was reading, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Charles was being selfish to drag everyone off to Kansas. Okay, I know that settlers in America had to go to scary places to… settle America. But come on! Caroline was clearly terrified in Kansas. When they first get there, there’s nothing but blowing wind, yellow grass, and the eerie sensation that not a single human foot has ever touched the fields. Maybe it’s just me, but that is way too secluded for a family. It proved itself in...more

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Aug 07, 2007

Beth rated it

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Shelves: childhood-reading

I can vividly remember the first time I read this book. I was sleeping over at my best friend Mary's house when I was about seven or eight years old. She lived next door to me. Her family always slept with their attic fan on, and with a radio in each bedroom tuned in to a country station. This was strange to me, as nights at my house were totally quiet. Plus, I was a little freaked out at spending the night away from home, because I hadn't really done that very much at that point in my life. So,...more

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May 19, 2007

ruzmarì rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: juvenilia

I scrolled quickly down the page and noticed that nobody has much to say about this novel. What _is_ there to say about Laura Ingalls Wilder's fiction/memoir accounts of growing up in the period of American expansion and homesteading? A lot - at least 7 volumes' worth, in Ingalls Wilder's own series. It's easy to categorize Ingalls Wilder's series as "children's" literature, but her books are also documents of an indomitable feminine spirit, a woman's relation of the American experi...more

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Mar 08, 2010

Ellie rated it

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Shelves: will-read-later

it was pretty good!

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Oct 10, 2008

Keli rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: juvenile, lis-565, historical, tween

Synopsis

Part autobiography, part fiction, this book tells the story of a pioneer family settling in Indian Territory in the plains of the American Southwest.

Review

This American classic can problematic to modern readers. Ma's meek demeanor and the frequent reminder that "children should be seen and not heard" are not likely to resonate with youth of the 21st century and are likely more fiction than autobiography. Additionally, while the book had a c...more

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Sep 04, 2008

Margaret rated it

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Laura’s family decides to go west because the area in which they live in Minnesota in the big woods is getting too populated and scaring the game away. So they pack up all of their belongings and leave their little house and go toward the prairie land. They find a piece of land in the prairie and start over. They encounter trials and joys along the way. They make some neighbor friends who live several miles away. They are in Indian Territory and deal with nice Indians and the not-so-nice In...more

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Feb 04, 2008

Samantha Sostarich rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: 8 to 14 year olds

Shelves: youth

The language of the book is very simple, seeing the prairie through the eyes of a young girl. The chapters are short and flow quickly, making this an excellent book for young readers just starting chapter books. The time period in which the book was written can be felt from the harsh, characterized, portrayal of American Indians, including the Osage tribe, rekindling the touchy phrase of General Sheridan’s remark declaring the only good Indian is a dead Indian.

Though I enjoyed the ...more

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May 22, 2008

Brandi rated it

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Shelves: read-a-while-ago

I am a little partial here but even if I wasn't I would still have thoroughly enjoyed this book!!!

Laura Ingalls Wilder and her husband Almanzo and their 8 year old daughter Rose moved to Mansfield Missouri in 1894. Laura lived there until her death in 1957 and it’s where she wrote most of her manuscripts. My mom was born and raised in Mansfield, MO and I have many relatives living there still. I grew up there myself and have many fond memories of touring her home and property.
...more

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Feb 19, 2010

Patel Aditi added it · review of another edition

i finished this book on 14th feb, i read 332 pages.
(4) i would like to change life or lives of a character, to make their lives beautiful. i whould like to change whole family's life. because the family moved from their country.they came to stayed in indian country. but they had to left from prairie because of goverment law. if they did not move from their , the soldier will come and shut them. i would change goverment rules and law and i request to the goverment for this family...more

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Nov 22, 2011

Hollandemily rated it

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Little House on the Prairie is a historical fiction book written for Intermediate readers.
The book follows the Ingalls Family as they move West in a covered wagon. The story is told from the point-of-view of the middle daughter, Laura.
I rated the book 4 stars and may be partial in how I feel as I remember watching the Little House on the Prairie television series and I absolutely loved the show. The book is well written and is part of a series of 9 books. The plot is interesting an...more

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Oct 27, 2011

Sarah rated it

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Shelves: children-literature

The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Wilder is a historical fiction book. The book is about a little girl named Laura Ingalls and her family as they leave their little house in the Woods in Wisconsin and go on their way for Kansas. They travel for many days in their covered wagon until they find the best spot to build their little house on the prairie. Soon they begin planting and plowing, hunting wild ducks and turkeys, and gathering grass for their cows.
The age group appropriate fo...more

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Oct 10, 2011

Genevieve rated it

· review of another edition

Well, I was a little disappointed after "Little House in the Big Woods." I enjoyed it and I'm just reading through the series.
I think I may be too much in my own time to totally appreciate this book. There were so many times in the book that I just felt Caroline was expecting way too much out of little Laura. I know it was a different time and respect was taught differently, but the Caroline manipulating Laura into giving baby Carrie the beads just bothered me.
The other th...more

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Jun 04, 2011

Amy Y rated it

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I wish I could give it 3.5 stars. While I thoroughly enjoyed Laura's description of the prairie and the details about the building of the house and of daily subsistence living, it was difficult to read such an the unkind portrayal of the native people when it was the Ingalls who were the trespassers. However, it is foolish to apply modern ethics to historic works of fiction, so I don't feel too harshly toward this book. But Pa's abrupt uprooting of the family once again , just when they had fina...more

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May 15, 2011

Bayu Probo rated it

· review of another edition

Isi Buku
A. Maksud dan Tujuan Buku
Novel ini adalah novel kedua dari rangkaian buku yang ditulis oleh Laura
Ingalls Wilder. Laura Ingalls Wilder adalah seorang penulis dan pionir terkenal
di Amerika Serikat. Ia menuliskan novel-novelnya berdasarkan pengalamannya
semenjak ia masih kecil (terutama pengalamannya ketika ia ikut mengembara
bersama keluarganya) sampai ia menetap dan berkeluarga.
Laura Ingalls Wilder lahir di dekat kota Pepin, Wisconsin, sebagai Laura...more

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Apr 27, 2011

Michael Cremin rated it

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Reading this book with my five year old took me back to my own childhood. The character's in Wilder's story--Ma, Pa, Laura, Mary, baby Carrie, Jack the dog, Mr. Edwards--were a big part of my life when I was growing up. Not only did I love these books, but I was an avid fan of the television series "Little House on the Prairie." I think Melissa Gilbert was my first love (her and Darla from "The Little Rascals").

I had a great experience reading this with Maria. Ther...more

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Apr 07, 2011

Kelly Hager rated it

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In this installment, the Ingalls family leaves Wisconsin for the prairie of Kansas because Charles is annoyed that so many people have invaded the Big Woods they live in. And since he heard that the government is letting settlers into the Indian land in Kansas, he’s all, “Family! We’re moving!” And even though Ma hates Indians, off they go.

It’s a pretty craptastic year for the Ingalls. They almost die several times getting to Kansas (the ice they cross breaks the next day; Pa almo...more

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Mar 10, 2011

sabisteb rated it

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Shelves: buch

Wie unterschiedlich sind doch der Klappentext der 50er und jener der 80er.
Ich bin als Kind mit der Serie "Unsere Kleine Farm" aufgewachsen und wollte mir endlich mal die orginal Bücher zu Gemüte führen, schließlich sind das ja Klassiker der Kinderliteratur.
Ich habe die Ausgabe von 1956 gelesen, die neuenAusgaben können also in mancher Hinsicht überarbeitet sein.
Das Buch ist nett geschrieben, teils sind mir die Beschreibungen wie genau dieser oder jener Mechanismus funkti...more

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Mar 08, 2011

Kressel Housman rated it

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Shelves: all-time-favorite, historical-fiction, fiction, classics, little-house

I am hoping to review all the Little House books in the order I read them, so even though Little House on the Prairie is the second in the series, it was first for me. I was seven years old when I first read it, and my family had just moved from Manhattan to Queens, primarily so that I could attend a better school. I was the best reader in my first grade class in Manhattan, but second grade in Queens was a rude awakening. The kids there were reading chaptered books of more than 100 pages! Amongs...moreI am hoping to review all the Little House books in the order I read them, so even though Little House on the Prairie is the second in the series, it was first for me. I was seven years old when I first read it, and my family had just moved from Manhattan to Queens, primarily so that I could attend a better school. I was the best reader in my first grade class in Manhattan, but second grade in Queens was a rude awakening. The kids there were reading chaptered books of more than 100 pages! Amongst the girls, Little House was the big favorite, so I jumped right in.

To tell the truth, I’m not 100% sure that Little House on the Prairie was my first chaptered book. It may have been Charlotte’s Web. What I do remember clearly is sitting in my class, reading a scene in which Laura is in the covered wagon while Pa is driving it across a river and thinking, “I’d love to see this on TV.” It was 1975. The show was in its second season, but I hadn’t discovered it yet. It wasn’t until after I read my second Little House book that I did discover it, but when I did, it felt like a wish come true!

As to the book, though, the line that I’ve remembered best through all these years is: “Perhaps Mary felt sweet and good inside, but Laura didn’t.” That was one of the greatest things about the books: Laura’s struggles with negative emotions were so familiar. But much of the history was lost on me as a child. I re-read what’s left of my old copy this Shabbos, and as an adult, I could see the broader political context. I’m sure I didn’t understand way back when that the Indians held their jamboree because the government had told the settlers to leave Indian Territory. And when the Ingalls family did leave at the end of the book, I don’t think I understood that it had to with the government's treaty with the Native Americans. I just thought that traveling around the prairie in a covered wagon was what pioneers did.

But it’s a classic book and a lifetime favorite. I do think, though, that the kids who read it should be given background information so that they can appreciate the history. There are homeschoolers’ guides for teaching the book. Perhaps school libraries across the country should invest in them. Kids enjoy the books because of the quality of the writing, but a little information from a teacher or parent can make the book even more meaningful.
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Feb 23, 2011

Shelley rated it

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I grew up watching this series on tv and loved the books when I was young. My two older girls have read all the books and my youngest is on the 3rd or 4th one now. So I decided to re-read them as well.

This is the saga of Laura Ingalls and her family. This is actually the second book in the series. Laura and her family leave the Big Woods and head for the open country of the west. Pa feels like the woods have become too crowded and wants to be somewhere that he can hunt enough ...more

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Feb 06, 2011

Kellie rated it

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Shelves: children, classics, read-aloud, bibliotherapy, western

I give this book five stars with a huge caveat - it should not be read by a child without adult guidance and discussion, and is probably most appropriate for children ages 8 and up. There is a lot of blatant racism in this story, as well as a lot of more subtle language problems. It is clear to me that Laura, writing as an adult, understood the problems with what her family was doing at the time - moving into Indian Territory - and that she to some extent understood the perspective of the India...moreI give this book five stars with a huge caveat - it should not be read by a child without adult guidance and discussion, and is probably most appropriate for children ages 8 and up. There is a lot of blatant racism in this story, as well as a lot of more subtle language problems. It is clear to me that Laura, writing as an adult, understood the problems with what her family was doing at the time - moving into Indian Territory - and that she to some extent understood the perspective of the Indians. But she was also a product of her times and that is reflected in her language. All of that being said, this book has been a tremendous tool in our family to discuss racism. Laura questions her parents a lot in a way that makes sense to kids, "Why do we live in Indian Territory if you don't like Indians?...Why does the government keep making the Indians move? Won't that make them angry?"

The Native Americans in this book behave in a way that does not make sense to Laura and her family which led to a lot of discussion in our house about cultural conventions and cultural differences. For example, many of the Indians simply walked right into the Ingalls' home. Some Indians were also rude and clearly trying to be intimidating. Others were kind in spite of all the problems with the Ingalls living there. We talked about how that was how it is with people everywhere. Ma is blatantly prejudiced against Indians. Pa makes several comments that make me cringe, but overall he had a pretty progressive view for the time. All of these were big catalysts for discussion when we read the book aloud.

I did do some editing while I was reading. This was our evening read-aloud which my four and a half year old was often present for. She wasn't really old enough to get all of this, and I don't recommend this book for her age group. I did some editing for her and my sensitive seven-year-old (the Ingalls have a neighbor who likes to say, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" and that was just too much for them). My nine-year-old and I had a lot of great discussions about this book (sometimes after the other two went to bed) and I think she really gets it. I think it was very eye-opening to her to see characters she likes and is attached to - like Caroline - have such blatant flaws. I also think it was eye-opening to her herself - I have heard a few comments and questions from her about Native Americans that had disturbed me, and after reading this she was clearly outraged on their behalf and has become interested in learning more about Native American history and culture.

To me, this is like the elementary school Huck Finn.(less)

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Jan 26, 2011

Melissa rated it

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Shelves: own, historical-fiction, young-adult

I love this series. It doesn't matter how old I get, they just keep getting better and better. When we last left the Ingalls family, they were enjoying life in the Big Woods of Wisconsin where Ma and Pa had built there home and lived among family with their three little girls, Laura, Mary, and Carrie. Now, spurred on by his love of travel, Pa has decided to take the girls and Ma and head West for new adventure.

They load up the wagon and with goodbyes from their family, head west to the...moreI love this series. It doesn't matter how old I get, they just keep getting better and better. When we last left the Ingalls family, they were enjoying life in the Big Woods of Wisconsin where Ma and Pa had built there home and lived among family with their three little girls, Laura, Mary, and Carrie. Now, spurred on by his love of travel, Pa has decided to take the girls and Ma and head West for new adventure.

They load up the wagon and with goodbyes from their family, head west to the great prairies to Indian territory, where they hope to make a new home. Pa finds a great spot not too far from a river and starts building the house by himself, with a little bit of help from Ma. They meet some of their neighbors and as they get settled in life happens. Whether it be sickness, celebrations, Indians, or fires, life isn't that dull for the Ingalls. They do their best at surviving well using only the resources they are able to obtain easily for themselves and yet remain happy. They live in this house for a year and get along just fine until forced to move on.

I hesitate to call them characters, as they are based off of real people and are more of Laura's telling or diary of her own life, but they are great characters. She does a good job of expressing the family dynamic and even going so far as to show herself truthfully with all of her faults. To me, that is wonderful, as she isn't trumping herself up to be the best of all. At times, her depiction of Ma doesn't seem quite fair, but as a child I can see how she'd view her mother as a sterner authority figure while her dad was more jovial of a person.

Not only does Wilder do a great job of writing this book, she makes it informative as well. When I was a kid and reading this I didn't pick up on nearly the amount of instructions on homesteading that I do now. In fact, with just a little extra help from a diagram, I'm pretty sure you could make a door without nails just by her description of when she helped her dad build one. She also offers a very simplistic outline of building a log cabin as well. These and other little tidbits are a treasure trove of knowledge if you read right. Another great thing Wilder does with her writing is express how much job the simple things can bring. When Pa builds Ma a new rocking chair, they celebrate! This is wonderful because it really makes you appreciate the little things and see how even that was really doing good for the times.

There is a small warning for these books however. Due to the time they were written in, there are several view points and words that could be considered racist. Most specifically in this book, this would apply to Native Americans. Ma herself isn't a big fan of them, but Pa likes them so they seem to balance each other out a bit. Still, it does have the potential to offend.

Such a beautiful series and I always voraciously read them as quick as I can as I hate to put them down. These especially seem to be great books for the holidays as well and are perfect for reading with a nice hot cup of cocoa. Little House on the Prairie is a wonderful book for both adults and children.

Little House on the Prairie
Copyright 1935
335 pages plus illustrations from Garth Williams

Review by M. Reynard 2010 (less)

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Jan 25, 2011

Stacey rated it

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I read this classic aloud to my five year old twins and it is difficult to say who enjoyed it more. Leopold and Cornelia were utterly captivated by the smallest of details about everyday life on the Kansas prairie in the late 1800's. For example, they made me read the passage in which Pa slaughters the family hog and then treats Mary and Laura to a game of catch with the pig's bladder several times.

Myself, I was quite struck by the characters' ideas about "Indian country"...more

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Jan 16, 2011

Megan rated it

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Shelves: read-with-madeleine

As an adult i think about things like what it must feel like to be 100 miles from the nearest town, to build and live in a one-room log house in the middle of no-where, to rejoice in the simplest of all pleasures all the time. And yet my child appears to see what i did when i was young - the world through the wide eyes of young Laura. I am so completely enjoying reading this series with her!

This second book does present some small difficulty - it takes place in an un-opened Indian te...more

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Nov 26, 2010

Kristel rated it

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Shelves: 2010, fiction-children

It's quite strange reading and reacting to these books as an adult. It's frustrating now because as a kid I just thought of it as a big adventure, something I'd have wanted to do (I was big on survival stories and pioneer-type stories as well) because as a child I romanticized it.

Now I can't get over the arrogance (this is a modern reading, I know) of moving to Indian territory believing that the government will just give the land to white settlers because they always do, and because ...more

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Apr 10, 2010

Mark Dewey rated it

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Shelves: audio, juvenile, non-genre-fiction, historical-fiction

This was an interesting book—particularly as it is historical; the perspective of the story, too, is interesting.

Don't expect to find all the characters from the TV series here. It's pretty different. Laura still seems to have a similar temperament. Oh, and Jack is a bulldog, not whatever he is in the show.

I was impressed at how quickly Laura's dad threw up that house and the various parts of it. He seemed eager to do it, too. It's like one day he decides to make a house,...moreThis was an interesting book—particularly as it is historical; the perspective of the story, too, is interesting.

Don't expect to find all the characters from the TV series here. It's pretty different. Laura still seems to have a similar temperament. Oh, and Jack is a bulldog, not whatever he is in the show.

I was impressed at how quickly Laura's dad threw up that house and the various parts of it. He seemed eager to do it, too. It's like one day he decides to make a house, and whoa and behold, he does it as if in a single day, all from materials he found on the land. Then, he does the same with a chimney, etc. This happens time and again. He must have been pretty prepared for this sort of venture. Some blame him for all the bad things that happen in the book, but most of them aren't entirely his fault, or weren't matters of his control (without the ability to predict the future). Maybe some of them were, but I don't know.

I didn't read the first book in the series first, however. I still have yet to read any of the others. You don't need to have read the first one to read this (although a lot of people prefer the first one).

Here are some of my favorite quotes:
'"You can't fight fifty wolves with one gun."' This just seemed kind of funny, in context. Also, I remember seeing a movie of this as a kid and the part with the wolves is about all I remember from it—it looked like a pack of twenty to a hundred mottled German shepherds, although I understand there actually are wolves that look similar to that, somewhere in the world. I wonder if those really were wolves, in the movie.

'Snakes rippled across the yard.' This was during the prairie fire. I just thought this was cool to envision—snakes going all over the place during a fire. I also thought it was interesting that snakes were found in such abundance (and not just in this passage; there is frequent mention of snakes in this book)—it doesn't surprise me, really, but nowadays you don't see that as much (in fact, they were even a lot more common when I was a kid). I guess this has a lot to do with the decline in vegetation, increase in pollution, urbanization and such, but I don't know. Whatever the case, I don't think one should think the snakes are an exaggeration, necessarily.

The narration wasn't bad.(less)

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Jan 31, 2010

Erga rated it

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I remember when i was little child i always go home from the church in hurry because i don't want miss this movie.
I also remember when the first time my mother gave this beautiful book to me. She borrowed it from hospital's library. Surely it become my favorite book.

Masih jelas dalam ingatanku...
Bertahun2 yang lalu, setiap hari Minggu sore akan kuhentikan semua aktivitasku dan duduk manis di depan tv tepat pukul 16.00. Tak ingin kulewatkan serial favoritku,"Little ...more

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Nov 18, 2009

Janessa rated it

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I am always looking for the next book to read aloud with my children, and now that they are getting older it is especially fun for me to find that perfect book that will capture their interests and imagination. For my six year old daughter, Hattie, that book was Little House on the Prairie.

Over the last few months, Hattie has developed a fascination with pioneer times. I’m sure moving to our little pioneer-grown town here in Utah has a lot to do with it — like the active rail line ...moreI am always looking for the next book to read aloud with my children, and now that they are getting older it is especially fun for me to find that perfect book that will capture their interests and imagination. For my six year old daughter, Hattie, that book was Little House on the Prairie.

Over the last few months, Hattie has developed a fascination with pioneer times. I’m sure moving to our little pioneer-grown town here in Utah has a lot to do with it — like the active rail line through our last home town in Massachusetts helped develop our oldest son’s enthusiasm for trains when he was younger.

Or maybe it’s just the exercise of the imagination that appeals to her — it isn’t hard for Hattie to picture a young girl sharing household jobs and responsibilites with an older sibling, or to feel the safety and warmth of family and home. But to put herself into a situation where that home has to be built from hewn logs, a daily dinner of cornmeal is prepared over an open fire, and entertainment consists entirely of chasing prarie dogs and listening to Pa on his fiddle — now that requires a leap of imagination.

I think it was good for Hattie to see that Laura and her family could live on very little and still be happy. And to see that they were required to make do with the things they had, while working hard each day. I think it was good for her to see how habits and customs have changed since pioneer times. Pa was often enjoying a smoke on his pipe after dinner. “They used to smoke a lot in pioneer times,” she told me in a very matter-of-fact way. She was able to understand, in a way that I felt was significant, that over time habits and attitudes can change.

The one thing that concerned me about the book was its treatment of the white settlement of Native American lands. Laura’s Pa purposely moves his family to what he calls “Indian Territory,” to homestead on the land there. He is much more sympathetic to the Native Americans than other homesteaders we meet in the book, but he has moved onto their lands, nonetheless. However, in spite of this attitude of entitlement, the book ends with a very poignant scene in which Laura and her family feel a profound sadness watching the Native Americans vacate the land, and then choose to leave it themselves. Without making any political or social statements, Wilder captures a feeling of empathy that I felt was very valuable for my daughter to experience.
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About Laura Ingalls Wilder

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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