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Days of Laura Ingalls Wilder #1
Missouri Homestead
It’s 1894, and after devastating losses in South Dakota, Laura, Manly, and little Rose head East to Mansfield, Missouri, in search of a new beginning...
213 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1992
14 people are currently reading
336 people want to read
About the author
Thomas L. Tedrow
32 books13 followersT.L. Tedrow is an author and screenwriter who focuses on family, children's, historical, and Christian themes.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations and Journalism from the University of Florida.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations and Journalism from the University of Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
January 12, 2025
I picked this up at my local library expecting something like the other spin-offs of the Little House series (the Martha, Charlotte, Caroline, and Rose Years books). I grew up reading and loving the original series, and I'm also a fan of historical fiction in general. Coming from that background, I was sorely disappointed and even upset by the liberties Mr. Tedrow has taken with this material.
First off, while I understand that historical fiction is by necessity "fiction," this book completely disregards the things we *do* know about the characters. Almanzo calling Laura "Laury" instead of "Bess" is particularly jarring. Also pointless and irritating was the name change of their farm from "Rocky Ridge" to "Apple Hill." Worse yet, Tedrow seems to completely ignore nine books' worth of existing characterization and turns the thoughtful, determined yet caring Laura into a headstrong, domineering harpy. "Demanding" indoor plumbing, indeed! Almanzo is similarly flattened, being presented as little more than a dimwitted hillbilly. Their relationship is turned into a cheap sitcom caricaturization in which their interactions seem to consist entirely of bickering.
Tedrow's own characters, the "Youngun" children, are absolute fluff. The simple fact that they have rhyming names should clue you in to the level of thought that went into these caricatures. (Also, "Youngun"? Not a name. Just sayin'.) He clearly added them to add easy appeal to younger children, but they end up being just the comic relief, and have no bearing on the main plot.
Even worse is the character of Maurice Springer. I'm not sure why he's there at all, honestly, as he does nothing to progress the plot. It's also problematic that, as the lone black character in the books (apart from his wife, Eula Mae, who is little more than a name on the page), he seems to exist primarily to aid and abet the Youngun children in their hijinks. Whatever that is, it's not progressive.
Speaking of the main plot, it's paper-thin. Laura is writing a column for the local newspaper (which, to Tedrow's credit, she actually did do) and gets tangled up in a plot by some unscrupulous lumbermen to make it look like a fungus is attacking trees in the area so that they can cut down more of them. The bad guys as characters have all the nuance and depth of Snidely Whiplash; even for a children's book, I was disappointed. It read more like a cheap Nancy Drew knockoff than a Little House book.
In short, if the author hadn't requisitioned the Laura Ingalls Wilder name, this book would be mediocre at best - a useless but mostly harmless piece of juvenile fluff. As it is, I honestly think it's an affront to Laura's name, and the author should be ashamed of himself for trying to ride someone else's coattails, instead of writing a story that's actually worth reading.
First off, while I understand that historical fiction is by necessity "fiction," this book completely disregards the things we *do* know about the characters. Almanzo calling Laura "Laury" instead of "Bess" is particularly jarring. Also pointless and irritating was the name change of their farm from "Rocky Ridge" to "Apple Hill." Worse yet, Tedrow seems to completely ignore nine books' worth of existing characterization and turns the thoughtful, determined yet caring Laura into a headstrong, domineering harpy. "Demanding" indoor plumbing, indeed! Almanzo is similarly flattened, being presented as little more than a dimwitted hillbilly. Their relationship is turned into a cheap sitcom caricaturization in which their interactions seem to consist entirely of bickering.
Tedrow's own characters, the "Youngun" children, are absolute fluff. The simple fact that they have rhyming names should clue you in to the level of thought that went into these caricatures. (Also, "Youngun"? Not a name. Just sayin'.) He clearly added them to add easy appeal to younger children, but they end up being just the comic relief, and have no bearing on the main plot.
Even worse is the character of Maurice Springer. I'm not sure why he's there at all, honestly, as he does nothing to progress the plot. It's also problematic that, as the lone black character in the books (apart from his wife, Eula Mae, who is little more than a name on the page), he seems to exist primarily to aid and abet the Youngun children in their hijinks. Whatever that is, it's not progressive.
Speaking of the main plot, it's paper-thin. Laura is writing a column for the local newspaper (which, to Tedrow's credit, she actually did do) and gets tangled up in a plot by some unscrupulous lumbermen to make it look like a fungus is attacking trees in the area so that they can cut down more of them. The bad guys as characters have all the nuance and depth of Snidely Whiplash; even for a children's book, I was disappointed. It read more like a cheap Nancy Drew knockoff than a Little House book.
In short, if the author hadn't requisitioned the Laura Ingalls Wilder name, this book would be mediocre at best - a useless but mostly harmless piece of juvenile fluff. As it is, I honestly think it's an affront to Laura's name, and the author should be ashamed of himself for trying to ride someone else's coattails, instead of writing a story that's actually worth reading.
March 24, 2022
To be honest, I was really disappointed with this book. I LOVE the Little House series and have read them countless times when I was a little girl. I tried to read this when I was around 10 and just could not get into it. It was so boring and did not have any of the original Little House feels at all. I tried reading it again when I was a little older, but I still just could not enjoy it.
The writing was bad, and the characters were all so changed. I really didn't like Laura in this book. Actually, I didn't like any of the characters in this book. Their personalities and character were all so changed and terrible. If you're a fan of Laura Ingalls' books and are expecting this series to be like them, beware. I doubt I'll be giving this a reread.
The writing was bad, and the characters were all so changed. I really didn't like Laura in this book. Actually, I didn't like any of the characters in this book. Their personalities and character were all so changed and terrible. If you're a fan of Laura Ingalls' books and are expecting this series to be like them, beware. I doubt I'll be giving this a reread.
March 17, 2015
This book was so bad I couldn't even finish it. Where to begin? The complete tone of the book is different than Laura Ingalls Wilder's classics. Not even close. The writing is just plain bad. The characterizations are absolutely wrong, too. Laura is depicted as a want-monster, and Almonzo is depicted as clueless. Key information is also changed, such as the actual name of the Wilder homestead. It is as if Tedrow wrote a book about pioneer life and then decided to name the characters Laura and Almonzo Wilder.
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August 17, 2012This whole series was TERRIBLE! The author took many liberties with the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. He even had her having another child in the last book. If he wanted to write a story like that he should have changed the characters names and not tried to make money off of Laura's name. I am very sorry that I bought them.
May 15, 2018
My favorite part was when all the people in Mansfield learned why the fungus was spreading, so they could stop it, and also when Bentley decided to replant the trees he was cutting down. My least favorite part were when the two people who were working for Bentley were poisoning the trees and pretending that it was a fungus.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2021
I cannot begin to list all the reasons I did not like this book. One of the many is while I know it is a work of fiction, it throws almost all factual knowledge about Laura Ingalls Wilder out. I did not like Laura in this book, she is depicted as bossy, opinionated without diplomacy, and avaricious. Almonzo is depicted as bumbling and bad with money. The author changes the name of the farm and is loose with historical accuracy of inventions that would have been found in Mansfield at the time.
I think the author should have written this same book without the use of her name and come out way ahead.
One positive is that I can now unhaul the other books in the series as I won't be reading them.
I think the author should have written this same book without the use of her name and come out way ahead.
One positive is that I can now unhaul the other books in the series as I won't be reading them.
August 9, 2015
I wish I could give this negative stars. Do not be fooled, these books have nothing to do with Laura Ingalls Wilder. The author was trying to ride her coattails to launch his own completely annoying set of characters.
December 26, 2024
Rereading childhood nostalgia. It seemed vaguely familiar but I didn't remember where it was ending up. Love the extra take on Laura and her mid adult years and imagined ways her spitfire helped others.
June 29, 2015
What a horrible book. Laura is completely unlikeable, the writing is dreadful, and the historical accuracy questionable. I won't be reading any more in the series.
April 7, 2018
If you were a fan of the Little House on the Prairie Series - you need to read these books.
December 18, 2024
This is really an awful book.
People are probably coming to this book expecting something similar to the original Little House series, something wholesome, sweet and cute.
You aren't going to find any of the above. I hated Laura, she's a disrespectful, greedy, selfish person.
The entire book all she does is demand new things from her husband, a better house, a telephone, a car, running water and even if her husband is initially against whatever it is that she wants, he goes to the ends of the earth to get it for her and she is never once greatful. Laura is never shown being thankful or saying thanks or anything like that, she simply goes on to demanding the next thing.
This book is basically all about Laura having a sort of fight with a logging company because they don't replant. She becomes inmature and puts hurtful articles in the newspaper about the man who owns the company. Laura is even depicted pushing the man's wife into a bowl of punch juice during a dance (she pretended it was an accident but did not apologize)
Keep in mind that during all of this, Laura is depicted as being 100% in the right. There is never even a suggestion that she's wrong. Also, Laura is a full grown adult in this book.
As if all that wasn't enough (and there's lots I'm not mentioning because it's literally the entire book) there are children of a pastor who are just horrible. The kids lie, steal, cheat and also purchase a magazine their father specifically told them not to. They are never shown as in the wrong either but more as amuzing or cute. Even when they used a massive combination of the above to cheat in a horse race. Their father never punishes them but in the end gives them a nickle. It makes it seem like the father is wrong for forbidding anything and we should be mad at him instead.
Finally, to hit it all home, in the end after the logging company CEO decides to start replanting and after Laura protested, fought, argued and really just was extremely immature, the community went to the man's house to help him fix up his yard and Manly (Laura's husband) says (in very similar wording) "Laura, don't you think you'd better forgive Mr. Blah blah blah?" And Laura replies with "well, let's see how good he can clean first and then maybe I'll think about it"
This is depicted as funny and cute even though the logging guy never fought back or did anything wrong beside maybe if you count not immediately doing as Laura so forcefully commanded. Laura never asked nicely, never tried kindly to convince him, but simply went straight to insulting the man and during the whole book just fuming with anger at him.
This is a disgusting book and pretty horribly written, it should never have been even related to the Little House books. For reference, I've read ALL the Little House books and studied a lot of history of the Ingalls family.
I've probably only written like one or two one star book reviews before and I really wish I could have rated this higher because I was excited to read something similar to the original series.
I'm not going to read any more from this author and I actually threw away (well, burned because it happened to be more convenient at the time) the entire series which was so sad because I'd never, ever hurt a book before 😢 📖 ❤️
Don't read this book, it's filth for the mind, not uplifting, lovely, encouraging.
People are probably coming to this book expecting something similar to the original Little House series, something wholesome, sweet and cute.
You aren't going to find any of the above. I hated Laura, she's a disrespectful, greedy, selfish person.
The entire book all she does is demand new things from her husband, a better house, a telephone, a car, running water and even if her husband is initially against whatever it is that she wants, he goes to the ends of the earth to get it for her and she is never once greatful. Laura is never shown being thankful or saying thanks or anything like that, she simply goes on to demanding the next thing.
This book is basically all about Laura having a sort of fight with a logging company because they don't replant. She becomes inmature and puts hurtful articles in the newspaper about the man who owns the company. Laura is even depicted pushing the man's wife into a bowl of punch juice during a dance (she pretended it was an accident but did not apologize)
Keep in mind that during all of this, Laura is depicted as being 100% in the right. There is never even a suggestion that she's wrong. Also, Laura is a full grown adult in this book.
As if all that wasn't enough (and there's lots I'm not mentioning because it's literally the entire book) there are children of a pastor who are just horrible. The kids lie, steal, cheat and also purchase a magazine their father specifically told them not to. They are never shown as in the wrong either but more as amuzing or cute. Even when they used a massive combination of the above to cheat in a horse race. Their father never punishes them but in the end gives them a nickle. It makes it seem like the father is wrong for forbidding anything and we should be mad at him instead.
Finally, to hit it all home, in the end after the logging company CEO decides to start replanting and after Laura protested, fought, argued and really just was extremely immature, the community went to the man's house to help him fix up his yard and Manly (Laura's husband) says (in very similar wording) "Laura, don't you think you'd better forgive Mr. Blah blah blah?" And Laura replies with "well, let's see how good he can clean first and then maybe I'll think about it"
This is depicted as funny and cute even though the logging guy never fought back or did anything wrong beside maybe if you count not immediately doing as Laura so forcefully commanded. Laura never asked nicely, never tried kindly to convince him, but simply went straight to insulting the man and during the whole book just fuming with anger at him.
This is a disgusting book and pretty horribly written, it should never have been even related to the Little House books. For reference, I've read ALL the Little House books and studied a lot of history of the Ingalls family.
I've probably only written like one or two one star book reviews before and I really wish I could have rated this higher because I was excited to read something similar to the original series.
I'm not going to read any more from this author and I actually threw away (well, burned because it happened to be more convenient at the time) the entire series which was so sad because I'd never, ever hurt a book before 😢 📖 ❤️
Don't read this book, it's filth for the mind, not uplifting, lovely, encouraging.
June 30, 2021
I read this to my kids, ages 7 and 9. They loved it and laughed hysterically at almost every page, just as I remember doing at their age. As other reviewers have pointed out, it is not in the style of the "Little House" books, but if you know that from the outset, I hope you can enjoy it as a highly entertaining work of historical fiction for young readers!
September 11, 2024
Why did the author feel the need to rename Laura and Almanzo’s farm? They named it Rocky Ridge. The author changed it to Apple Hill. Why? Does not make sense, especially if you are keeping the historical integrity. There was no need to do this. Also, after reading several of these books, the minister’s kids were portrayed to be pretty bad.
January 4, 2023
People truly disliked this! It looked like something you would find at a Christian bookstore in the 90's.
I enjoyed it, was it great literature? no. Was it as good as the little house books? no.
but we got to revisit Laura & Manly as adults, it was kinda charming.
I enjoyed it, was it great literature? no. Was it as good as the little house books? no.
but we got to revisit Laura & Manly as adults, it was kinda charming.
August 6, 2017
I found out afterwards that the Laura Ingalls Wilder books by Tedrow are almost completely fiction. Knowing that, the story has very little value to me.
December 1, 2018
Writing style is a bit abrupt, but it's fun to have a bit of information about the ongoing later life of the characters.
March 8, 2021
Nostalgic reread from my childhood... remembered some but not all
Want to read
July 17, 2022i seriously need a site for the PDF of these 8 books anyone?
August 10, 2024
This was a good, old fashioned, decent book. However, it was quite different than expected and not really anything like the other Laura Ingles Wilder books I’ve read.
March 3, 2025
this felt like a poorly written after school special
June 20, 2025
This was just okay.
May 14, 2011
Laura wilder together with her husband manly and their young daughter rose were forced to move from south dakota to Springfield Missouri---to save themselves as well as to live their lives away from any danger. in that time--- 1890 many immigrants were headed to America---in search of a country where its people can choose their own leader---have their own rights---have a good system for benefit of everyone...and the like.
with only a $100-how they will survive this challenges?--how about their everyday needs like food, a house and lot? where indeed they are going?--lots of worries caving in Laura--- a lot of flashback awaits the readers revealing the painful past of her life...and the her present full of questions and circumstances that makes you finish the book--even the whole set of it...
it's so inspiring! i recommend it to all THE ADHERENTS OF FEMINISM! YOU'LL SURELY enjoy it!
it has the balance MIXTURE OF comedy,tragedy,romance.... and...well find it out!
with only a $100-how they will survive this challenges?--how about their everyday needs like food, a house and lot? where indeed they are going?--lots of worries caving in Laura--- a lot of flashback awaits the readers revealing the painful past of her life...and the her present full of questions and circumstances that makes you finish the book--even the whole set of it...
it's so inspiring! i recommend it to all THE ADHERENTS OF FEMINISM! YOU'LL SURELY enjoy it!
it has the balance MIXTURE OF comedy,tragedy,romance.... and...well find it out!
March 2, 2015
I personally went into reading the story as it was intended, a FICTIONAL portrayal of life on the prairie. That being said, I read these as a young adult, again in my 20s, and just recently in my 30s. I have always found them to be hilarious and the comic relief provided by the children, especially Terry, was a welcome break from some of the heavier things discussed in the Little House on the Prairie books. I would recommend these books to younger readers as a way to introduce them to Little House on the Prairie or even as a companion piece. I am reading teacher and have recommended these books to some of my middle school readers and they have enjoyed them a great deal.
June 25, 2013
This was a FICTIONAL account of Laura Wilder. Nothing in this story is true, from what I've researched. I prefer Little House series or the Rocky Ridge series because those are true accounts. Will not read the other 7 books in this series. If you don't mind the fact that it is a fiction work, then this story is great and a good read. I just don't like fiction stories.
March 4, 2008
Apparently there is some controversy surrounding these books but I love them and I think they go well with the Little House series, with a lot more comedic relief.
March 10, 2009
i am trying to read all of those books too!
June 18, 2010
The reverend's three kids are hysterical; I think I rathered that part than the actual story itself...although that was good too.
June 28, 2010
I was disappointed by the lack of depth to the characters and plot.
April 20, 2014
This is the first instalment of the days of Laura Ingalls Wilder
book and it introduces her family
book and it introduces her family
Read
December 20, 2014Cute book
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews