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The Long Winter (Little House #6)
The old Indian warned that a big snow was coming--but who could believe it would snow from October to May?
The true story of the Long Winter, and how Laura Ingalls and her family survived it.
The true story of the Long Winter, and how Laura Ingalls and her family survived it.
Paperback, 335 pages
Published
1968
by Scholastic Book Services
(first published 1940)
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Gah, I love the Little House books, and none more than The Long Winter, the 6th in the series.
Although all of Laura Ingalls' books have a cozy, homey charm, The Long Winter brings with it a gritier, more menacing realism of what life would actually have been like for the American pioneer. Since it is a children's book, Laura keeps the threat light, but make no mistake, the threat of starvation is a serious and ever present danger to not only the Ingalls family, but all the residents of De Smet,...more
Although all of Laura Ingalls' books have a cozy, homey charm, The Long Winter brings with it a gritier, more menacing realism of what life would actually have been like for the American pioneer. Since it is a children's book, Laura keeps the threat light, but make no mistake, the threat of starvation is a serious and ever present danger to not only the Ingalls family, but all the residents of De Smet,...more
So, I have a lot of problems with the treatment of the Native Americans.And all of the signs foretelling the harsh winter are, in fact, not supported by science. And the casual way everyone breaks the law as far as claiming land would make Ayn Rand mighty proud. Nonetheless, it's a gripping story. Even knowing that they're not going to starve to death, or be lost forever in a white out. As a story of relentless hunger and cold, it's quite good. Do I really believe that everyone was as cheerful a...more
8 likes · like · see review
I don't have a "Children's" shelf, so I've filed this under YA. I know I read them when I was really young, like 8-9. And then after Laura I got into Anne Shirley and those occupied most of my preteen/teen years but anyway. But from Silver Lake on, we're looking at Laura when she was 13 and up. So I guess it qualifies.
This is a dark book. It was one of my favorites as a kid. It was just the perfect thing to read in the winter when it was snowing. On my reread I find myself more interested in th...more
This is a dark book. It was one of my favorites as a kid. It was just the perfect thing to read in the winter when it was snowing. On my reread I find myself more interested in th...more
2 likes · like · see review
May 09, 2011
Kressel Housman
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
kids 10 and up
Review #1 - The Little House series was so popular in my school in 1975 that after I’d finished Little House on the Prairie, the only book available in my school library was the sixth in the series, The Long Winter. At 400+ pages, it was the longest book I’d ever read, and it took me months. Kids in my class even commented about it. “It’s called The Long Winter because it’s long book.” And that was one of the more neutral comments. Much more typical was, “You’re still reading that?” And from the...more
2 likes · like · see review
My mum used to say that this was the most boring book of the lot. Perhaps for that reason alone I never felt so. I realize it's quite repetitious, but you get to follow an entire town during a difficult time, and get lots of survival tips... should you ever be in a situation where they're actually needed ;) If I remember correctly it's the only book not told solely from one person's POV which I think was a good choice as there would otherwise have been far too much telling and not enough showing...more
2 likes · like · see review
Ahh, which did I love most, The Long Winter or Farmer Boy?
This is a great story of perserverance and just plain survival under some unexpectedly harsh conditions. When an extraordinarily harsh winter hits the Dakotas and the trains are unable to bring supplies, the underprovisioned homesteaders pretty much have to rely on their wits to last through the winter.
Reading about the simple gifts that Laura gave that Christmas makes you think, boy have Christmas expectations changed over the years. L...more
This is a great story of perserverance and just plain survival under some unexpectedly harsh conditions. When an extraordinarily harsh winter hits the Dakotas and the trains are unable to bring supplies, the underprovisioned homesteaders pretty much have to rely on their wits to last through the winter.
Reading about the simple gifts that Laura gave that Christmas makes you think, boy have Christmas expectations changed over the years. L...more
I learned to not worry about winter because it always passes by. Don't be impatient for Christmas because it always comes.
1 like · like · see review
I read this first when I was young, and a few years ago started a practice of re-reading it every winter, whenever I start to feel sorry for myself because it's so cold and dark. Re-reading it as an adult, I'm impressed by how cheerful they remained in the face of tremendous adversity. I love her storytelling, which is so simple on the surface, but really complex enough to entertain both children and adults. I agree with one of Kim Stanley Robinson's characters in the Science in the Capitol seri...more
Jan 26, 2011
Melissa
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction,
young-adult
Wow, yet another wonderful addition to the Little House on the Prairie series. For those of you who have never read the series, it is the author, Laura Ingalls Wilder's, tales about her life growing up with her Ma, Pa, and sisters while they traveled by wagon and lived in some pretty remote areas. From Indian territory, to Minnesota, to DeSmet, they did a lot of traveling and a lot of hard surviving in these pioneer days.
This particular book involves a very long winter in the town of DeSmet wher...more
This particular book involves a very long winter in the town of DeSmet wher...more
The Long Winter is part of the Little House of the Prairie Series. The series follows a young girl named Laura Ingalls and her family. This book begins in late August. Laura's father starts to see signs through animals around them as well as the neighboring indians that the upcoming winter will be a hard one. As winter gets closer, they worry more about what it will bring. The indians tell the town rumors of seven months of winter. To be safe, Laura's father moves the family to the apartment ov...more
Nov 12, 2012
Delicious Strawberry
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
laura-ingalls-wilder,
autobiography
To really enjoy this book, you need to read the others in this series. You COULD read it by itself, but it's not really written as a stand-alone book and should not be treated as so. If you've already read the preceding Little House books, then you should be familiar with this family and their circumstances as well as the time period they lived in, and the technology they had compared to us. I've read the negative reviews for this book and am surprised at some of the complaints, which didn't fee...more
Although this is probably not my favorite book in the series, mainly because it's so dark in comparison to the other relatively happy installments, I really enjoyed it. Laura and her family are living in De Smet and move into town there when a long winter begins, with constant blizzards and no trains able to arrive in town. Everyone is filled with worry about how to survive when they have dwindling resources with no way to replenish their supplies or travel anywhere to get more.
The descriptions...more
The descriptions...more
Sep 12, 2012
Tracy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
children,
little-house
This was not my favorite Little House book when I was a child. The book, like the winter it describes, is long, and not much happens. Endless blizzards, darkness, freezing, near starvation... Where were the prairie bunnies and the gentle breezes and the joy?? Pa can't even play his fiddle for much of it.
As an adult, I can see it for the masterpiece it is. The Ingalls had endured hardships before, but this time they are truly helpless and in danger on the prairie. They've spent only one summer in...more
As an adult, I can see it for the masterpiece it is. The Ingalls had endured hardships before, but this time they are truly helpless and in danger on the prairie. They've spent only one summer in...more
Audio book performed by Cherry Jones
In this installment of Wilder’s “Little House” novels the Ingalls family is living on a claim in South Dakota. As the novel opens it is late summer / early fall and Laura is helping her father mow/stack/store hay. Pa goes into town and happens to come across an Indian who communicates that this will be an extremely harsh winter – seven months of big snows. Pa, who has already begun to feel uneasy because he’s noticed unusual animal activity on the prairie, dec...more
In this installment of Wilder’s “Little House” novels the Ingalls family is living on a claim in South Dakota. As the novel opens it is late summer / early fall and Laura is helping her father mow/stack/store hay. Pa goes into town and happens to come across an Indian who communicates that this will be an extremely harsh winter – seven months of big snows. Pa, who has already begun to feel uneasy because he’s noticed unusual animal activity on the prairie, dec...more
This is the first time I've read the entire Little House series as an adult. I loved it all over again. Every book in this series is wonderful and a worth read, but this time I decided "The Long Winter" is my favorite. I would not have said that when I was younger, but is a much more complex story than a lot of her books. While reading the series, the later books in the series had more detail and were longer than the earlier books. This of course makes sense because she would have been able to r...more
The book that I curently read is called, "The Long Winter". I was satisified with the book and how it went. I thought it was interesting, and I never really wanted to put it down. I'm not much of a reader, so if I read a book, it has to be good.
Likes: I loved the way the author sort of set up the book. It wasn't hard to follow at all. This book reminded me of the late 1800s. I noticed that the author had a lot of main characters. Usually there is only one or two. In this book, there was three or...more
Likes: I loved the way the author sort of set up the book. It wasn't hard to follow at all. This book reminded me of the late 1800s. I noticed that the author had a lot of main characters. Usually there is only one or two. In this book, there was three or...more
This is, hands-down, my favorite Little House book. And that's saying something because I really love all of them! (I have mentioned before that my youngest sister is named Laura, and yes it absolutely is after LIW.) I normally reread these in the summer, as that's the best time to read about blizzards, not December! I felt like a bit of a wuss, huddling under my fleece throw in my silk long underwear, wondering when the heater would click back on, while the poor Ingalls are probably in a house...more
This has to be my favourite Little House book on the basis that it describes a real meteorological event that took place during the winter of 1880-81 on the Dakotan prairie. A winter full of horrifically low temperatures and killing blizzard winds that lasted from October until April with no supplies being brought into town from November onwards. The awful privation that the Ingalls family suffered because there were no supplies in this new prairie town make really quite harrowing reading even f...more
2 likes · like · see review
This October I was listening to a radio episode of "This American Life," in which a woman was talking about relocating from New York to the midwest. She moved because she had always been a fan of the "Little House on the Prairie" books, and wanted to see the countryside Laura Ingalls grew up in as part of an early homesteading family. Well! I thought. I had never realized that the Ingalls books were anything other than fiction, and the few clips I had seen of the Little House TV series were so "...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 called back...more
Sep 11, 2008
Art
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone, especially interested in survival
Recommended to Art by:
My Mother, Kay Shutt
I read this book during a blizzard that lasted at least 3 days in Minnesota.
I couldn't get enough to eat so it seemed because the Half-pint and everyone in the book was hungry.
I also kept covering myself up and went to the warmest spot in our house to stay warm.
When I went out to the barn to do chores, I thought about what they did w/their animals and how easy it would be to get lost and freeze to death in a blizzard.
Was I ever glad when the storm broke.
I couldn't get enough to eat so it seemed because the Half-pint and everyone in the book was hungry.
I also kept covering myself up and went to the warmest spot in our house to stay warm.
When I went out to the barn to do chores, I thought about what they did w/their animals and how easy it would be to get lost and freeze to death in a blizzard.
Was I ever glad when the storm broke.
2 likes · like · see review
Summary:
When The Long Winter begins Laura, "is going on 14". Pa reluctantly lets her help him bring in the hay. The work is hard, but Laura perseveres with a positive outlook. Working as a team, they are able to get more done. Later Pa brags about her hard work, building up her self-worth.
Pa soon notices how the birds are leaving the Dakota territory in a hurry---flying south. He also notices animals building up their homes thicker than usual. The first snow storm arrives in early October. Ma ha...more
When The Long Winter begins Laura, "is going on 14". Pa reluctantly lets her help him bring in the hay. The work is hard, but Laura perseveres with a positive outlook. Working as a team, they are able to get more done. Later Pa brags about her hard work, building up her self-worth.
Pa soon notices how the birds are leaving the Dakota territory in a hurry---flying south. He also notices animals building up their homes thicker than usual. The first snow storm arrives in early October. Ma ha...more
The Long Winter just keeps getting better every time I read it. I have no idea how many times I've read it. We aren't just lulled by the howling winds of the blizzard, but feel the dreary dullness of the monotony tied up in the weather's grip. The blizzard is a character in itself, blasting and teasing, howling and laughing, sometimes even playing.
Laura is like the town and community on the verge of growing up. She's both Ma and Pa's right-hand, doing both the farm work and work in the home. Wi...more
Laura is like the town and community on the verge of growing up. She's both Ma and Pa's right-hand, doing both the farm work and work in the home. Wi...more
1 like · like · see review
De Smet, South Dakota 1880/81. Laura und ihre Familie sind in ihr provisorisches Haus auf ihrer Farmparzelle gezogen. Die Familie beginnt den Boden zu bebauen, aber im ersten Jahr ist keine große Ernte zu erwarten, daher mäht Pa Ingalls vor alle Gras, um dieses im Notfall an vorüberziehende Siedler verkaufen zu können. Nie hätte er gedacht, dass dieses Präriegras seiner Familie das Leben retten wird, denn keiner nimmt den alten Indianer ernst, der die die Siedler warnt, dass jeder siebente Winte...more
While it was being read to me I felt that I was going through something. I wanted to ration my food and wear my coat inside. Just reading it makes you cold and hungry.
It also made me afraid to have children. Pa and Ma could be counted on. I knew they would never let their children starve, they would make something happen. The idea that I would be in charge of someone's life scared me very much at the time. And still does.
It also made me afraid to have children. Pa and Ma could be counted on. I knew they would never let their children starve, they would make something happen. The idea that I would be in charge of someone's life scared me very much at the time. And still does.
This has been a 'comfort book' of mine since I was very young. I've read it so, so many times. There's so much grit and practicality and making do and all the things that it's reassuring to read about when you're having a rubbish time. Plus, over the years, I've had genuine cause to make grease lamps and hay sticks, and had to be grateful for only a potato for dinner, and this is definitely the book to keep you company at those times. But also at any times. The description, the difference betwee...more
Book seven in the Little House series.
While this book might be a bit too frightening for very young readers, more mature readers will be riveted by the struggle to survive an incredibly long, brutal winter.
After an elderly Indian warns the townsfolk of the coming of a long and bitterly cold winter, Pa decides to move the family into town. He does not think they can survive the winter in thier shanty.
Blizzards start early and pound the town and the surrounding countryside relentlessly, eventual...more
While this book might be a bit too frightening for very young readers, more mature readers will be riveted by the struggle to survive an incredibly long, brutal winter.
After an elderly Indian warns the townsfolk of the coming of a long and bitterly cold winter, Pa decides to move the family into town. He does not think they can survive the winter in thier shanty.
Blizzards start early and pound the town and the surrounding countryside relentlessly, eventual...more
Wilder, Laura Ingalls
Children's Fiction
The Wilder family, now settled on their claim outside of the Dakota town of DeSmet, move into Pa's store as a long winter with never-ending blizzards sets in. There, they face bitter cold, starvation and endless house-bound days as they desperately attempt to survive the harsh weather. Like them, the rest of the town is on the brink of death until Almanzo Wilder and Cap Garland make a long trek to save their neighbors. A tale of survival and hope, The Long...more
Children's Fiction
The Wilder family, now settled on their claim outside of the Dakota town of DeSmet, move into Pa's store as a long winter with never-ending blizzards sets in. There, they face bitter cold, starvation and endless house-bound days as they desperately attempt to survive the harsh weather. Like them, the rest of the town is on the brink of death until Almanzo Wilder and Cap Garland make a long trek to save their neighbors. A tale of survival and hope, The Long...more
Caleb's favorite part was when Laura and her schoolmates had to walk through the blizzard from the schoolhouse to Main St. It was very exciting and she saved the day because she walked right into the corner of the very last building and could call everyone back. They would've wandered onto the open prairie if that hadn't happened.
Tim said that was his favorite part, too.
As for literary quality, I think this is the best book in the series so far. She really did a great job to describe the despond...more
Tim said that was his favorite part, too.
As for literary quality, I think this is the best book in the series so far. She really did a great job to describe the despond...more
Jun 16, 2012
Tara
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
childhood-favorites,
historical-fiction
This is the first book that I remember ordering from the Scholastic handouts our teachers gave us in elementary school. I must have been in about the 2nd grade. I was a good reader, but I was painfully slow. It took me forever to finish, but when others are all about buying eReaders and getting rid of their books, I remember the smell of books, particularly the smell of brand new books from Scholastic. Don't get me wrong; I love my laptop and my iPhone, but I'll never get rid of my books.
The ot...more
The ot...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.
More about Laura Ingalls Wilder...
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“Laura felt a warmth inside her. It was very small, but it was strong. It was steady, like a tiny light in the dark, and it burned very low but no winds could make it flicker because it would not give up.”
—
1,175 people liked it
“If only I had some grease I could fix some kind of a light," Ma considered. "We didn't lack for light when I was a girl before this newfangled kerosene was ever heard of."
"That's so," said Pa. "These times are too progressive. Everything has changed too fast. Railroads and telegraph and kerosene and coal stoves--they're good things to have, but the trouble is, folks get to depend on 'em.”
—
19 people liked it
More quotes…
"That's so," said Pa. "These times are too progressive. Everything has changed too fast. Railroads and telegraph and kerosene and coal stoves--they're good things to have, but the trouble is, folks get to depend on 'em.”
Agreed.
We as a society...more
27 feb. 09:01
Agreed....more
27 feb. 09:29