Cabin on the Prairie

by Charles Henry Pearson

This is a delightful series that could be described as the Christian counterpart to ''Little House on the Prairie.'' Drawing from his personal experiences on the rugged frontier, author C.H. Pearson gives a vivid picture of life in the Old West. The reader is confronted with wild Indians, runaway wagon trains, and near-death encounters on the lonesome prairie. This is one writer who is not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Captivating character lessons for the family. A great read for children twelve and up.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Classics

299 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1872

About the author

British-born Australian historian, educationist, politician and journalist

Reviews

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exploring and living in the prairies with the Jones family and other settlers. Slightly darker "Little House" type book (rather like if G.A. Henty wrote it instead of L. I. Wilder) and rather typical of the period.

This is a harder read, as the Jones' are a family in need, they don't even own the land they live on, and whenever they start to get their feet under them, Mr. Jones moves them again. He does have a good reason for his distrust of civilization, but often being on the fringes of Native American territory is dangerous for the family, not to mention winters and prairie fires. Though the main character, Tom is easy to cheer for, it is really the missionary who steals the book, being a true man of God around several "talking" Christians that do not really follow Christ.

Content notes: No language issues, but also not a P.C. book; uses the terms that were "correct" for the period to refer to Native Americans and African Americans. No sensuality issues. Violence is frontier style, threatened animal attacks to people (and a grisly death for a horse) and a Native American raid on a settlement that includes the deaths of several "main" characters and some details of the tortures undergone are given.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read both Cabin on the Prairie and Cabin in the north woods(part two) and enjoyed them as a good Christian light read that does not take alot of thinking to understand..:) I liked these books enough that I would not mind at all to read them again.

[Gayle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet story. Very simple, but it does jump around a lot. (On my Kindle there were no divisions to let you know the book had "jumped" time or characters.) It's always refreshing to read a book from a simple Christian perspective.

[Lex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book isn't boring per se, but it is thoroughly mediocre. The characters are fairly two-dimenional, and women are either portrayed as shrewd or self-sacrificing - or written out of the story altogether to focus on the male characters. Not bad, but not really all that good either.

[Rachel L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of my favorites, mainly because it's rather violent and that bothered me when I first read it. A frontier story, with wolves and Indians and the whole bit.

[Tiffani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable but I wish I could have gotten to know the characters more. The book hopped between too many character perspectives. If that doesn't bother you, give this book a try.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book combining the author’s pleasant writing style and refreshing Christ-Centeredness making “Cabin on the Prairie” a new favorite of mine.

[Naulayne Raiche Enders · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young man n the frontier strives to acquire an education to become a minister. The Indian attack is well written. This book would make a great family read aloud.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. A childhood favorite.