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Apr 30, 2007

Summer rated it:

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.

F More...

7 comments like (17 people liked it)

Jun 13, 2011

Laurel rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2008

Libby rated it:

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...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Sep 26, 2007

D rated it:

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...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 06, 2007

Prayudi rated it:

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 s More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2007

Kathleen rated it:

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 More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 18, 2009

Manny rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 26, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

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 More...

8 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 21, 2011

Sarah rated it:

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.
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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

We are reading it for Social Studies.

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2009

Alison rated it:

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 signif More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 22, 2008

Julie (Mom2lnb) rated it:

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 dr More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 09, 2009

Jamie rated it:

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.

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Apr 18, 2008

Denee rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 29, 2007

Wendy rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Charlotte added it

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 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 23, 2012

Mikayla is currently reading it

Little House In The Big Woods
By: Laura Ingalls Wilder

The book Little House In The Big Woods by: Laura Ingalls Wilder. This story takes place sixty years ago in a big woods. It is about these two little girls whose names are Laura and Mary. Laura and Mary live in a gray log house with their Ma and Pa and their baby sister Carrie. Mary is the oldest of her two sisters. Pa calls Laura his “little half-pint of sweet cider half drunk up.” Pa calls Laura that because she is so small More...

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Jan 17, 2012

Deborah rated it:

I hadn't read these books in years, and wasn't sure how well they'd hold up now that I'm all jaded and critical and have modern perspectives on expansionism and frontier ethics. But they're even better than I remembered. It's a terrific narrative choice to tell these stories from Laura's perspective. Through the eyes of a 5-year-old (or 6 or 7 or 9 or 13 as the books go on), small things take on great importance and we learn in great detail about things that might otherwise seem pedantic or mund More...

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Oct 24, 2011

Karen rated it:

Summary:

In the 1870's, the Ingalls family-Charles, Caroline, Mary, Laura, and baby Carrie-lived deep in the Wisconsin woods in a cozy log house. The story begins with Laura describing her surroundings. There were only a few other houses around, though they were far apart. Many wild animals lived in the woods and Laura was afraid. Her Pa told her that they were safe in the house because he had his gun and because their dog Jack would not let any animals come in the house. Laura th More...

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Oct 20, 2011

Valerie added it

I learned fairly early on that this book was very pertinent to my family. The homesteaders in my family didn't go to southern Wisconsin, but to southern Illinois. But unlike Laura's family, mine stayed in the same place for many generations. My mother and her older sister went to just such a one-room schoolhouse as their ancestors had (by the time their younger sister was ready for school they'd moved into town).

My aunt's descriptions of her own life as a child are very similar to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 06, 2011

06emilyr rated it:

Page#: 238

The setting of this book is in a little log cabin house in the woods. Laura and her family are the only ones that live there.

Laura is the main character. She is a little girl who has brown hair and loves to play and explore in the outdoors.

In this book, Laura lives in a little log cabin house with her Ma, her Pa, her older sister mary, and her baby sister Carrie. In the mornings , Mary and Laura would do there chores, then they cou More...

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Aug 11, 2011

Michelle rated it:

I 100% love the Little House books. The first few stand out the most in my head--I don't know if I read them more when I was young, or if I related to them more because of Laura's age--but I'm going to read through all of them again to remember why I love them so much. Here are a few reasons I've come up with so far: (1) The illustrations from Garth Williams are just so fantastic. I always thought Laura was so, so cute, and felt bad that she was jealous of Mary's golden curls. (2) Oh, simple tim More...

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Jun 19, 2011

Mandolin rated it:

Inspired by my recent read, Wendy McClure's The Wilder Life, I picked up this audiobook to delve into the world of Laura Ingalls Wilder which I somehow missed as a girl. I almost wish, though, that I hadn't read McClure's book before reading this one, for some of the disillusionment and disappointment that lay beneath her research into Wilder's life was always at the back of my mind as I listened. Despite that niggling feeling, however, I was still able to savor this first book in Wilder's ser More...

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Mar 03, 2011

Tig rated it:

Finshed reading this to my younger sons last night; when I revisit Laura Ingalls Wilder these days, it tends to be her older ones. As a writer, she feels slightly less confident in this book: the chapters are more instructive and the use of stories-within-the-story was something she grew out of after this book. But it's still glorious. I love the honey tree, Ma making hats, Laura's jealousy of oh-so-perfect Mary, the astonishment of seeing a town for the first time; the excitement of the danc More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 26, 2011

Melissa rated it:

I've always loved the Little House on the Prairie books. And going back to read them as an adult is just as much of a pleasure. Actually more so because there is a lot of useful information in these books about different activities. While it might not have all the information about say, sugaring maple syrup, it does tell it from a regular point of view, so its like you're there watching how they do it instead of reading instructions from a book.

This particular installment, Little House More...

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Oct 01, 2010

Kristy rated it:

I listened to this wonderful audio book on my many drives around this traffic snarled city, and it was a lifesaver! Cherry Jones is an excellent narrator for this story, using just the right amount of expression and employing different octaves in her voice.
It was interesting to listen to this story again after having read it years and years ago. It is simply chock full of descriptions of domestic life in the mid 19th century. Reading it as a mother (who happens to have a particularly fuss More...

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Aug 27, 2010

Jessica rated it:

This is always and forever my favorite book. I remember being so young, and my mother reading it out loud to my sisters and I, though I do not remember the first time I read it by myself. If I didn't have the dim memory of being in a doctor's waiting room and hearing my mom read about the black panther landing on Grandpa's horse, I would have to believe I have always known this book.

It's an inconsequential little book, definitely geared toward girls, but I feel that there is a univ More...

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Jul 21, 2010

Aerin rated it:

After succeeding in my quest to track down the same editions of the Little House books I had as a child, I have settled down to reread them a good dozen years after losing track of my old copies. I read Little House in the Big Woods so many times as a child that I can not in any way be objective in reviewing it. The story is such a part of me, reading it (and rereading it) such an integral part of my development as a reader (and in some ways, as a person), that giving it a meaningful star rati More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2010

Donna rated it:

Originally published in 1932, elements of this classic story hold new relevance for young readers in an era of urban farmsteading and local foods. The primary plot centers on the young family’s efforts to survive off the land. Each chapter is a brief vignette of that life and they are filled with details of the Ingalls’ efforts at daily survival. This includes how Laura’s father made bullets; her mother made daily items, such as butter and clothes; and how her extended family gathered to celebra More...

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Mar 05, 2009

Jeanne rated it:

Children, especially girls, fall in love with Laura as they read about her adventures and her life. Garth Williams’ soft pencil drawings add to the attractiveness of the book and help children to picture an unfamiliar time. The reading is fairly easy, which makes it as good book for precocious readers as it is later on for average readers. Within the easy reading, though, Wilder used interesting words and an exciting writing style which make this book fun even for adults. Because it isn’t one lo More...

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