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Little House in the Big Woods (Little House #1)
America's Original Pioneer Girl
Meet Laura Ingalls, the little girl who would grow up to write the Little House books.
Wolves and panthers and bears roam the deep Wisconsin woods in the late 1870's. In those same woods, Laura lives with Pa and Ma, and her sisters, Mary and Baby Carrie, in a snug little house built of logs. Pa hunts and traps. Ma makes her own cheese and bu
...morePaperback, 256 pages
Published
October 1st 2005
by HarperFestival
(first published 1932)
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I started rereading this series because of John Scieszka's bizarre hatred of Little House on the Prairie. In attempting the perfectly noble task of getting young boys to read more, Scieszka has continuously heaped scorn on that book, banishing it to the girl ghetto of the Sweet Valley High and American Girls series. Putting aside the unfair comparison to syndicate titles published for purely commercial reasons, his assesment of Little House as a book purely for girls is infuriating.
For one thing...more
For one thing...more
40 likes · like · see review
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Reading this to my daughter has helped me rediscover the joy of the Little House series all over again. Probably the best gift this little book has to offer is that of perspective. How blessed but complicated our lives seem now. How very different and yet the same. I loved sharing a slice of history with my child who has no concept of life before dvr's, minivans, and microwaves. That a child could be happy with a corncob doll was a unique thought. This series should be on the reading list for ev...more
17 likes · like · see review
My annual re-read, this time with the lovely Heidi! :)
7 likes · like · see review
This first installment in the Little House series has always been my favorite (although I love them all, and am letting this single review stand in for the series entire), probably because A. As the first Little House book I read, I hold a special affection for its magic (it was my entree into an amazing other world) and B. As other smart reviewers have pointed out, there's something sort of sad about the fact that it chronicles the only chapter in Laura's life in which she was surrounded by her...more
7 likes · like · see review
Sep 26, 2007
D
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
lovers of American lore
The first installment in the Little House series is, hands down, my favorite. Unlike later books, this window into a young Laura's first home, where for the only time in her life she's surrounded by extended family, their cultures, and their heritage, stands in contrast to the transience that marks her well into adulthood. Little House in the Big Woods takes comfort in housekeeping's simple pleasures, Pa's chilling stories told before a crackling fire in a snug log cabin, and family communion. T...more
I found this book among my aunts' collections in my grandpa's house when i was living there for three-months back in 1987. Once I read it, I never stop to read over and over again.
Well, the life of the Ingalls is wonderful indeed. But what attracts me more is the fact that this book always makes me hungry all the time. You don't believe me, do you? Well, don't take my words for it, just try yourself...especially when you're reading through the "pouring hot maple syrup in the snow", "roasting th...more
Well, the life of the Ingalls is wonderful indeed. But what attracts me more is the fact that this book always makes me hungry all the time. You don't believe me, do you? Well, don't take my words for it, just try yourself...especially when you're reading through the "pouring hot maple syrup in the snow", "roasting th...more
11 likes · like · see review
* Review posted on Mundie Kids on 11/20/2012*
http://mundiekids.blogspot.com/2012/1...
You know when you're pregnant and you start buying books that you hope your child will love as much as you did? But because they're not even born you put them away on a shelf and years go by, the baby grows and one day she comes home all excited to read that very book? It just happened to me. I loved the Little House series when I was growing up. And when my MundieTween came home clutching Little House in the B...more
http://mundiekids.blogspot.com/2012/1...
You know when you're pregnant and you start buying books that you hope your child will love as much as you did? But because they're not even born you put them away on a shelf and years go by, the baby grows and one day she comes home all excited to read that very book? It just happened to me. I loved the Little House series when I was growing up. And when my MundieTween came home clutching Little House in the B...more
2 likes · like · see review
Aug 09, 2007
Kathleen
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Parents and teachers as a read-aloud book, young readers of all ages
I did a wonderful year-long read aloud with my kindergarten class last year, and it was a fantastic experience. They asked so many good questions, and it spawned so much good discussion, exciting writing and enthusiasm about the books. Kids talked, wrote and drew pictures about different episodes all year. I highly recommend it. I would have loved to integrate this with more study of one-room schoolhouses and our city so many years ago (maybe for 2nd grade?). Part of the reason this worked well...more
4 likes · like · see review
I didn't usually like girly books when I was a kid, but this one was an exception. Her matter-of-fact descriptions of life in the Big Woods were just so fascinating! The fact that the main character was a girl seemed pretty irrelevant.
Beth Ann and I have several times discussed writing a modern-day sequel entitled Little House in the Valley. Laura gets up early every morning to sort the spam and check the website. Then she squeezes orange juice and makes two big lattes for Daddy and his boyfrien...more
Beth Ann and I have several times discussed writing a modern-day sequel entitled Little House in the Valley. Laura gets up early every morning to sort the spam and check the website. Then she squeezes orange juice and makes two big lattes for Daddy and his boyfrien...more
3 likes · like · see review
Second reading: 4/10/2011
I went nuts for this series beginning in 4th grade, so much so that I was convinced I'd been born in the wrong century. Given how crazy I was about these books, it's surprising I never went back to read them again before now. Thank you, Kressel, for the inspiration.
The two memories that stayed with me about this book down through all these years were the way Pa played the fiddle at night and the part where they poured the maple syrup on snow. Reading it again refreshed m...more
I went nuts for this series beginning in 4th grade, so much so that I was convinced I'd been born in the wrong century. Given how crazy I was about these books, it's surprising I never went back to read them again before now. Thank you, Kressel, for the inspiration.
The two memories that stayed with me about this book down through all these years were the way Pa played the fiddle at night and the part where they poured the maple syrup on snow. Reading it again refreshed m...more
3 likes · like · see review
3.5 stars from me, 5 from Owen.
His review:
I chose to have more than a zillion stars. It was about the author growing up when she was a kid. One of the most interesting part was about the [wheat] thrasher guys. They had this big machine that ran on horsepower called the separator. It separated wheat.
There was a dance in it at Grandpa's house. The author's Grandpa used maple trees to make maple syrup that they put on snow to make yummy candy.
It was all about the 1870s, when Laura Ingalls Wilder...more
His review:
I chose to have more than a zillion stars. It was about the author growing up when she was a kid. One of the most interesting part was about the [wheat] thrasher guys. They had this big machine that ran on horsepower called the separator. It separated wheat.
There was a dance in it at Grandpa's house. The author's Grandpa used maple trees to make maple syrup that they put on snow to make yummy candy.
It was all about the 1870s, when Laura Ingalls Wilder...more
4 likes · like · see review
Feb 07, 2011
Elizabeth
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Under 14
Recommended to Elizabeth by:
Ellie
Shelves:
school-books
We are reading it for Social Studies.
2 likes · like · see review
Little House in the Big Woods is a book I will never forget. Laura Ingalls Wilder is a wonderful author, she describes everything with beautiful description, like how the pie melts in her mouth and how the grass tickles her toes. She explains the hardships of living in the 18th century but also tells you about the fun times she had when she was a child. This is the first book in the series of her Little House books and it is all about when she was five and how she used to live and some significa...more
Dec 22, 2008
Julie (Mom2lnb)
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fans of Historical Fiction - Young & Old
Reviewed for THC Reviews
Throughout my childhood, I read the Little House on the Prairie books several times, and they became some of my all-time favorites. I probably hadn't picked one up since my early teens though, and finally rediscovered the series when I decided to share it with my children. I made the pleasant discovery that I still enjoy it every bit as much as an adult, as I did when I was a kid. I've always had a love for history, and the vivid descriptions of pioneer life just draw me...more
Throughout my childhood, I read the Little House on the Prairie books several times, and they became some of my all-time favorites. I probably hadn't picked one up since my early teens though, and finally rediscovered the series when I decided to share it with my children. I made the pleasant discovery that I still enjoy it every bit as much as an adult, as I did when I was a kid. I've always had a love for history, and the vivid descriptions of pioneer life just draw me...more
2 likes · like · see review
I'm gonna read the series this week. I got the fanciest box set on sale at Strand, and the cashier goes, "wow you must be the greatest aunt in the world." naw bitch, these are mine. I didn't get my nephew shit.
This is what I'm going to call out to my roommate every day when I get home: "Where's my little half pint of sweet cider half drunk up?"
This is what I'm going to call out to my roommate every day when I get home: "Where's my little half pint of sweet cider half drunk up?"
2 likes · like · see review
Every child in America, boy or girl, should read these books or, better yet, have their parents read them to them. I have wonderful memories of sitting on my mom's lap in a rocking chair while she read to me of all the trails and adventures of the Ingalls family. It's reminds us of where we came from and how hard the pioneers worked for America to thrive.
4 likes · like · see review
I was at the library one day and searching in desperation for a book that my 6 year old wouldn't be able to finish in the short 3 minute drive from the library to home. Glancing around, I spied the shelf of Little House books. "Aha!" I thought. "The Little House in the Big Woods will keep her busy for at least 3 or 4 days. Plus, it's full of good manners and details of a life when you had to work as a family to be able to survive." I checked the book out and my daughter started reading it voraci...more
I am reading this out loud to two kindergartners, a fifth grader and a first grader. One chapter in we have talked about animal rights, how people ate and lived differently before electricity and grocery stores.
They are completely and utterly hooked and enamored. It also prompted a discussion about eating real, whole, unprocessed food. They expressed the desire for us to continue to eat better and do a better job of appreciating the food we do have. All this just one chapter in.
Love this book....more
They are completely and utterly hooked and enamored. It also prompted a discussion about eating real, whole, unprocessed food. They expressed the desire for us to continue to eat better and do a better job of appreciating the food we do have. All this just one chapter in.
Love this book....more
2 likes · like · see review
Aug 29, 2007
Wendy
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Kids and outdoorsy types
Shelves:
recommended
Again a great book to read with your children. (Okay, I'm biased because my parents read the whole series to me.) Little House in the Big Woods is about the Ingalls family when they lived in the Wisconsin woods - hunting, trapping, and farming for a living. It has loads of details about every day life and the family and community life in such a secluded setting. There is danger from the animals in the woods - panthers, bears, badgers, bees, etc. It also talks about simultaneously loving the wood...more
When I was a little girl, I never got around to reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, I suppose because at that time the idea of pioneer life would have seemed entirely too rugged for me. (I preferred the likes of “The Secret Garden” and “A Little Princess,” and, always and forever, the works of L.M. Montgomery.) This past weekend I gave “Little House in the Big Woods” a try. I found it to be a beautiful and nostalgic recollection of childhood, and I was impressed by the sturdy but graceful pr...more
1 like · like · see review
Re-reading this great set of books! Brings back comforting memories as a child reading these books curled up in my comfy living room with my quilt and the smell of the wood burning stove. Discovering new aspects of the series that I could have only picked out at an older age.
We just finished reading this aloud for bedtime story, and my boys loved it! They were fascinated to learn about how certain things were made long ago, like bullets and cheese and maple syrup. And they enjoyed comparing the Ingalls' Christmas celebration to ours - they were horrified that they each only got two or three presents! But they thought playing with a pig's bladder was really gross.
We're on to Little House on the Prairie next!
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Book...more
We're on to Little House on the Prairie next!
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Book...more
1 like · like · see review
I'm starting Little House on the Prairie with my students today, and found out that they read this book last year. To help them with the transition to book 2, I figured I'd better read book 1 as well.
I found it to be as delightful as Little House on the Prairie in the depth of detail given about everyday life so long ago. The graphic descriptions of butchering the hog and preparing it and various other animals for food for the winter disturbed me quite a bit (likely because I'm a vegetarian, but...more
I found it to be as delightful as Little House on the Prairie in the depth of detail given about everyday life so long ago. The graphic descriptions of butchering the hog and preparing it and various other animals for food for the winter disturbed me quite a bit (likely because I'm a vegetarian, but...more
It's been about 20 years since I last read this series, but as soon as I started this book it all came rushing back. I credit books like this for getting me hooked on historical fiction!
I wasn't sure how this book would hold up, but I was just as entranced by the story now as I was when I was a kid. I'm not sure how much of my enjoyment came from the nostalgic memories but it doesn't really matter, I absolutely loved re-reading this! As a kid, I was very fascinated by the day-to-day life these l...more
I wasn't sure how this book would hold up, but I was just as entranced by the story now as I was when I was a kid. I'm not sure how much of my enjoyment came from the nostalgic memories but it doesn't really matter, I absolutely loved re-reading this! As a kid, I was very fascinated by the day-to-day life these l...more
In a vain (in both common uses of the word) attempt to hit my goodreads 2012 challenge, I took out most of the Little House series from the library to read over Christmas break, since the last time I read all of them was the first time, 25 or so years ago. The whole series was refreshing, and reading The Long Winter while the big storm was delivering 9+ inches of blowing snow to my parents house as I sat and read was a nice touch. Yes, there are the issues about where Pa should and should not ha...more
: Little House in the Big Woods certainly is not an exciting book. There is no hero or villain. There are no mysteries to solve. However, it accomplishes its purpose. The reader is educated about pioneer family life. Having children compare the life they live today with the life Laura faced everyday should be an eye-opening experience. Sometimes we tell our students how things were long ago. This story is told by the person who lived it. Sometimes just knowing it is a true story about real peopl...more
Dec 03, 2012
Katie Dubik-Schwarz
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-with-kids
lorelei and i read our first "big chapter book" together (also some was read by daddy and sitters). i liked this though didn't love it--lorelei loved it. there were some really great parts, though:
- when laura's male cousins goofs off in the fields instead of helping, then gets stung by a zillion bees and is wrapped up in gauze, with only his nose and mouth showing. lorelei was totally at attention, hanging on every word, at this longer version of the boy who cried wolf story.
- reading about co...more
- when laura's male cousins goofs off in the fields instead of helping, then gets stung by a zillion bees and is wrapped up in gauze, with only his nose and mouth showing. lorelei was totally at attention, hanging on every word, at this longer version of the boy who cried wolf story.
- reading about co...more
Audio book narrated by Cherry Jones
This classic children’s book is the first of the “Little House” series in which Wilder recounts what life was like for her and her family in late 19th century America. In this book Laura is but five years old and has never seen a town or a store. She is completely reliant on her parents for food and shelter, and on herself for entertainment. Fortunately she is part of a strong family unit with plenty of love. She recounts the hard work her parents, and other pi...more
This classic children’s book is the first of the “Little House” series in which Wilder recounts what life was like for her and her family in late 19th century America. In this book Laura is but five years old and has never seen a town or a store. She is completely reliant on her parents for food and shelter, and on herself for entertainment. Fortunately she is part of a strong family unit with plenty of love. She recounts the hard work her parents, and other pi...more
This novel, much like all the others in the Little House series, hardly needs an introduction or summary. They are famous the worldover for sharing author's life growing up first in the woods of Wisconsin and later on the wide-open prarie. This first book take us through one year of her early life, in the Big Woods, in a secluded cabin, yet surrounded by all her family.
I selected this book for a "read-along" off the audio shelf in the children's section of the library, because my boys are fascin...more
I selected this book for a "read-along" off the audio shelf in the children's section of the library, because my boys are fascin...more
Aug 28, 2012
Tracy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
children,
little-house
After reading Little House, Long Shadow, I decided I need to re-read the entire Little House series, and of course I started at the beginning. I read these books over and over again as a child in the 70s, and I read them to my children about eight years ago.
Laura is 5 in this first book. The story begins at the end of summer, and takes us through a full year of life in the Big Woods, chronicling all the work and preparation the family does to survive from season to season. The overall feel of th...more
Laura is 5 in this first book. The story begins at the end of summer, and takes us through a full year of life in the Big Woods, chronicling all the work and preparation the family does to survive from season to season. The overall feel of th...more
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| Who would you be off of LH? | 8 | 54 | Apr 06, 2013 04:34am | |
| Read in school | 30 | 116 | Dec 16, 2012 03:34am |
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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“She thought to herself, "This is now." She was glad that the cozy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.”
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9 people liked it
“That machine's a great invention!" he said. "Other folks can stick to old-fashioned ways if they want to, but I'm all for progress. It's a great age we're living in. As long as I raise wheat, I'm going to have a machine come and thresh it, if there's one anywhere in the neighborhood.”
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