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Little House #9
The First Four Years
Alternate cover can be found here
Laura Ingalls Wilder is beginning life with her new husband, Almanzo, in their own little house. Laura is a young pioneer wife now, and must work hard with Almanzo, farming the land around their home on the South Dakota prairie. Soon their baby daughter, Rose, is born, and the young family must face the hardships and triumphs encountered by so many American pioneers.
And so Laura Ingalls Wilder's adventure as a little pioneer girl ends, and her new life as a pioneer wife and mother begins. The nine Little House books have been cherished by generations of readers as both a unique glimpse into America's frontier past and a heartwarming, unforgettable story.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts
Laura Ingalls Wilder is beginning life with her new husband, Almanzo, in their own little house. Laura is a young pioneer wife now, and must work hard with Almanzo, farming the land around their home on the South Dakota prairie. Soon their baby daughter, Rose, is born, and the young family must face the hardships and triumphs encountered by so many American pioneers.
And so Laura Ingalls Wilder's adventure as a little pioneer girl ends, and her new life as a pioneer wife and mother begins. The nine Little House books have been cherished by generations of readers as both a unique glimpse into America's frontier past and a heartwarming, unforgettable story.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts
134 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
1019 people are currently reading
9510 people want to read
About the author
Laura Ingalls Wilder
459 books5,448 followersLaura Ingalls Wilder was an American author, journalist, and educator whose "Little House" series transformed the arduous reality of the American frontier into a foundational pillar of children's literature. Born in the "Big Woods" of Wisconsin to Charles and Caroline Ingalls, Laura’s childhood was a nomadic journey through the heart of a shifting nation. Her family moved across Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa, and the Dakota Territory—often staying just ahead of legal evictions or chasing the promise of fertile soil. These years were marked by extreme hardship, including the "Hard Winter" of 1880–81 in De Smet, South Dakota, where the family survived near-starvation. Despite the struggle, these experiences provided the raw material for her eight-volume record of pioneer life, a series that has since been translated into over forty languages.
Before becoming a world-renowned novelist in her sixties, Wilder lived several distinct lives. At fifteen, she became a teacher in one-room prairie schools, a job she took primarily to support her family financially. In 1885, she married Almanzo Wilder, beginning a partnership that endured fire, paralysis from diphtheria, and the heartbreaking loss of an infant son. These trials eventually led them to Mansfield, Missouri, where they established Rocky Ridge Farm. It was here that Laura developed her voice as a professional writer, serving as a columnist and editor for the Missouri Ruralist for over a decade.
The Great Depression and the 1929 stock market crash wiped out the Wilders’ savings, providing the ultimate catalyst for Laura to pen her memoirs. Her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane—a successful author in her own right—encouraged her mother to adapt her autobiography, Pioneer Girl, into a format more suitable for children. This resulted in a complex and often rocky literary collaboration; while Lane provided the professional "style," Wilder provided the "substance" and narrative heart. The first book, Little House in the Big Woods, was published in 1932 when Laura was sixty-five.
Wilder’s legacy is a blend of immense literary success and modern historical scrutiny. While her books remain staples in classrooms for their vivid descriptions of 19th-century domestic life, her portrayals of Native Americans and African Americans have led to recent reevaluations. In 2018, the American Library Association renamed the "Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal" to the "Children's Literature Legacy Award" to reflect these evolving cultural sensitivities. Nonetheless, Wilder remains a monumental figure in American letters, a woman who successfully "saved the American soul" by documenting the grit, faith, and unyielding persistence of the pioneer spirit.
Before becoming a world-renowned novelist in her sixties, Wilder lived several distinct lives. At fifteen, she became a teacher in one-room prairie schools, a job she took primarily to support her family financially. In 1885, she married Almanzo Wilder, beginning a partnership that endured fire, paralysis from diphtheria, and the heartbreaking loss of an infant son. These trials eventually led them to Mansfield, Missouri, where they established Rocky Ridge Farm. It was here that Laura developed her voice as a professional writer, serving as a columnist and editor for the Missouri Ruralist for over a decade.
The Great Depression and the 1929 stock market crash wiped out the Wilders’ savings, providing the ultimate catalyst for Laura to pen her memoirs. Her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane—a successful author in her own right—encouraged her mother to adapt her autobiography, Pioneer Girl, into a format more suitable for children. This resulted in a complex and often rocky literary collaboration; while Lane provided the professional "style," Wilder provided the "substance" and narrative heart. The first book, Little House in the Big Woods, was published in 1932 when Laura was sixty-five.
Wilder’s legacy is a blend of immense literary success and modern historical scrutiny. While her books remain staples in classrooms for their vivid descriptions of 19th-century domestic life, her portrayals of Native Americans and African Americans have led to recent reevaluations. In 2018, the American Library Association renamed the "Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal" to the "Children's Literature Legacy Award" to reflect these evolving cultural sensitivities. Nonetheless, Wilder remains a monumental figure in American letters, a woman who successfully "saved the American soul" by documenting the grit, faith, and unyielding persistence of the pioneer spirit.
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December 10, 2020
Bit of a lackluster end to one of my fave series
This is an unfinished manuscript. Laura Ingalls Wilder intended to write a full novel on her early years married to Almanzo Wilder but she passed prior to finishing the book.
Roger Lea MacBride ("adopted" grandson of Rose, Laura's daughter) found this manuscript after posthumously rummaging through Rose's things and decided to publish this anyway.
I don't wish it would've gone unpublished but at the same time, it's just not as good as the previous books.
We do get some content about the new hardships she faced as a wife and mother but the books don't have the same feel.
It feels shorter, rushed and repeats information from the eighth book.
Roger Lea MacBride then inherited all of the Little House Royalties ( not Laura's extended family) and proceeded to publish many a book based on the Ingalls family. His descendants still own the rights to Laura's life and estate opposed to Laura's family.
I have not read those companion books (nor do I intend to) based on that principle.
Laura's books were autobiographical. His books are works of fiction.
Plus it always bugged me that Roger MacBride took over the series.
Laura's family survived - her aunts, uncles and cousins all survived - so while she didn't have any direct descents (other than Rose, who never had surviving children) but there are certainly Ingalls descendants who are there.
MacBride wrote a series from Rose's perspective often leaning on things that Rose supposedly told him during their few years as friends when she was in her 70s and he was just a boy. He also used the estate to amass a fortune based off of Laura's series.
It bothers me.
It really bothers me.
To put this in perspective, if I went over to my 70-year-old neighbor, became "friends" for a few years, grabbed the rights to her late mother's estate, then waited a few decades after her death to capitalize on her experiences as a child under the veil of being an "adopted" grandchild (despite nothing legal ever happening)...it would be wrong.
If not wrong, at least a little shady and morally ambigious?
Then, when her surviving family goes, "no wait. That's OUR story" to refuse them anything, instead pass their (the Ingall's) family legacy to my (completely unrelated) family ...again because of the "adopted" grandchild status (and powerful lawyers).
It seems...weird...and a little strange (and skeezy?) to capitalize to such an extent on someone you knew for a few years in your childhood.
Plus, am I REALLY supposed to believe that Roger's memory is SO GOOD that he can retell Rose's entire life... thirty years AFTER she supposedly told it to him? Methinks quite a bit of it is fiction.
Quite frankly, if Rose wanted to tell the story, she would've written it herself.
Anyway, that was a really long explanation to say...whelp, this is as far as I'll go in the series...
Audiobook Comments
Read by Cherry Jones and accompanied by Paul Woodiel on the fiddle - this lovely pair made this book amazing.
YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
This is an unfinished manuscript. Laura Ingalls Wilder intended to write a full novel on her early years married to Almanzo Wilder but she passed prior to finishing the book.
Roger Lea MacBride ("adopted" grandson of Rose, Laura's daughter) found this manuscript after posthumously rummaging through Rose's things and decided to publish this anyway.
I don't wish it would've gone unpublished but at the same time, it's just not as good as the previous books.
We do get some content about the new hardships she faced as a wife and mother but the books don't have the same feel.
It feels shorter, rushed and repeats information from the eighth book.
Roger Lea MacBride then inherited all of the Little House Royalties ( not Laura's extended family) and proceeded to publish many a book based on the Ingalls family. His descendants still own the rights to Laura's life and estate opposed to Laura's family.
I have not read those companion books (nor do I intend to) based on that principle.
Laura's books were autobiographical. His books are works of fiction.
Plus it always bugged me that Roger MacBride took over the series.
Laura's family survived - her aunts, uncles and cousins all survived - so while she didn't have any direct descents (other than Rose, who never had surviving children) but there are certainly Ingalls descendants who are there.
MacBride wrote a series from Rose's perspective often leaning on things that Rose supposedly told him during their few years as friends when she was in her 70s and he was just a boy. He also used the estate to amass a fortune based off of Laura's series.
It bothers me.
It really bothers me.
To put this in perspective, if I went over to my 70-year-old neighbor, became "friends" for a few years, grabbed the rights to her late mother's estate, then waited a few decades after her death to capitalize on her experiences as a child under the veil of being an "adopted" grandchild (despite nothing legal ever happening)...it would be wrong.
If not wrong, at least a little shady and morally ambigious?
Then, when her surviving family goes, "no wait. That's OUR story" to refuse them anything, instead pass their (the Ingall's) family legacy to my (completely unrelated) family ...again because of the "adopted" grandchild status (and powerful lawyers).
It seems...weird...and a little strange (and skeezy?) to capitalize to such an extent on someone you knew for a few years in your childhood.
Plus, am I REALLY supposed to believe that Roger's memory is SO GOOD that he can retell Rose's entire life... thirty years AFTER she supposedly told it to him? Methinks quite a bit of it is fiction.
Quite frankly, if Rose wanted to tell the story, she would've written it herself.
Anyway, that was a really long explanation to say...whelp, this is as far as I'll go in the series...
Audiobook Comments
Read by Cherry Jones and accompanied by Paul Woodiel on the fiddle - this lovely pair made this book amazing.
YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
September 23, 2013
Discovered in 1971 and posthumously tacked onto the previous eight volumes of the 'Little House' series, it's obvious from the first pages that something's a little amiss here. The tone is different, harder, more grown-up, with many details that ended 'These Happy Golden Years' changed here, and not for the better. After going off to live 'the life of a farmer's wife' in the previous book, the same scene is revisited, with Laura telling Manly (she calls Almanzo by his nickname throughout the book) that he should work in a shop, and that she has no interest in being a farmer's wife. Jarring! But probably closer to the truth, too.
The lack of finesse added to other books by Laura's daughter Rose is noticeably absent here. Also, considering that the manuscript was found after her death, there's a good chance that it was unfinished, and might have been fleshed out at a later date.
It's interesting to see just how much hardship the couple endured in their four years of attempting to settle a land claim with the government. At the same time, the atrocities pile up so quickly, it's hard not to be come desensitized to them after a while. When the last ten pages is given over to 1) typhoon, 2) temporary blindless, 3) bankruptcy, 4) a fire that wipes out the family house and nearly kills Laura and Rose, it almost turns into some sort of black comedy, where the protagonist puts his foot in a bucket, falls off a cliff, and inadvertently starts World War III.
Of course, it wasn't a comedy, and as far as I know, these things actually happened, making it more depressing.
If you're following this saga 'all the way to the bitter end,' you'll probably want to read this. If you just want to enjoy the fairy-tale tone and ambiance of the previous books, I beg of you to stop with 'These Happy Golden Years' and protect your innocence. Since my girlfriend is writing a book about LIW, you can imagine that I'll riding this runaway train to the end of the line, but that doesn't mean you have to!
The lack of finesse added to other books by Laura's daughter Rose is noticeably absent here. Also, considering that the manuscript was found after her death, there's a good chance that it was unfinished, and might have been fleshed out at a later date.
It's interesting to see just how much hardship the couple endured in their four years of attempting to settle a land claim with the government. At the same time, the atrocities pile up so quickly, it's hard not to be come desensitized to them after a while. When the last ten pages is given over to 1) typhoon, 2) temporary blindless, 3) bankruptcy, 4) a fire that wipes out the family house and nearly kills Laura and Rose, it almost turns into some sort of black comedy, where the protagonist puts his foot in a bucket, falls off a cliff, and inadvertently starts World War III.
Of course, it wasn't a comedy, and as far as I know, these things actually happened, making it more depressing.
If you're following this saga 'all the way to the bitter end,' you'll probably want to read this. If you just want to enjoy the fairy-tale tone and ambiance of the previous books, I beg of you to stop with 'These Happy Golden Years' and protect your innocence. Since my girlfriend is writing a book about LIW, you can imagine that I'll riding this runaway train to the end of the line, but that doesn't mean you have to!
January 12, 2019
I hope that more recently-published editions have fixed the error on page 70 of my Harper & Row copy: Laura powers through labor by remembering one of the hymns Pa used to sing, but it's "Angel Band", NOT "Angel Bank"! Thank you, The Monkees' version of "Angel Bank" at YouTube, with Michael Nesmith on lead!
The book itself feels slightly different from the other books (although it recaps the very last part of THESE HAPPY GOLDEN YEARS, as Laura marries Almanzo Wilder and they move into their "Little Gray Home in the West," as THGY's last chapter is titled) and covers four years in 190 pages.
Happy 2019, everyone! Be well, be blessed!
The book itself feels slightly different from the other books (although it recaps the very last part of THESE HAPPY GOLDEN YEARS, as Laura marries Almanzo Wilder and they move into their "Little Gray Home in the West," as THGY's last chapter is titled) and covers four years in 190 pages.
Happy 2019, everyone! Be well, be blessed!
June 19, 2014
Dad: How many stars?
Eleanor: Daddy? I'm afraid I'm going to have to give it four, because two bad things happened. ...Two really bad things, you know? ... ... You know? ...
Dad: What two bad things?
Eleanor: Well,
Eleanor: I'm giving it four stars, although it's hard to give it four stars on my last Little House book, you know?
Dad: Because you liked them all so much?
El: Yes.
Dad: Did you feel bad when it was over?
El: Yes... Little House is all over now. I wish I could be a child again. I wish I could unread Little House so I can read them all again, but I can't.
Dad: No. But you can still read them all again. Did you cry when it ended?
El: Yes. How come you want to know?
Dad: I just find it interesting.
El: Why do you find it interesting that I cried? I find it sad that I cried.
Dad: Well, it shows that you really loved the books. ***This is me, I'm not saying this outloud to Eleanor, but she REALLY loved them, and she REALLY cried when they were over. ...A lot...***
Dad: Did you cry a lot or a little?
El: *Laughs* A LOT! (With a smile.) Did you feel sad when it ended?
Dad: Yeah. I mean, we've spent what? Three years reading these books out loud? I feel like a big milestone of my time with you in your childhood is - or has come to a close.
El: YES! I WISH WE COULD LITTLE HOUSE AGAIN AND START OVER!!! AND SAY, "OOOOooooo!!! I wonder what's going to happen in Little House?!?!?!?"
Dad: Hey, you said you had two reasons for giving it four stars, but you only gave me one.
El: No. I had one reason: there are two bad things. Two really, really bad things.
Dad: That's what I mean. You only told me one of the bad things, what's the other one?
El: Oh YEAH, yeah...
Dad: Do you ever wish you lived back in Little House days?
El: (Laughingly): Hmmph... Yeah. Some things were good, and some things were bad. But I don't wish I lived back in Laura's Grandpa's days.
Dad: Why not?
El: Heh. Of course... Because little girls had to behave all the time, not just on Sundays. And they could never slide down the hills like little boys.
Dad: You know that little girls had to "behave" even more in Laura's days than they do today, right?
El: Yes. A little bit. I thought it was easier to be good when she was a kid.
Dad: What do you mean by that?
El: In her days, girls could slide down hills.
Dad: Yes, but there were still a lot of things that girls weren't allowed to do that boys could do, and girls weren't treated as fairly as they are today. In fact, many people today say girls still aren't treated fairly...
El: I can't think of any ways that girls are treated unfairly. Can you think of any ways?
Dad: Yeah, but I don't feel like discussing them with a 7 year old on a public review of a Little House book. Maybe we'll read the Declaration of Sentiments next. ...Maybe not next, but maybe sometime...
El: What's the Declaration of Sentiments?
Dad: A paper where some women said they wanted to be treated fairly. Hopefully we keep treating everyone better, and better. That's what I hope.
El: I hope next year we treat someone better.
Dad: Me too. I'm not sure how we started talking about this. Lets get back to Little House.
El: Good idea.
Dad: So, I know you loved it a whole lot, and I loved it too...
El: (As I'm typing) I loved it too much...
Dad: ...Maybe when you're a couple years older, you could read it to Gwennie, and write your very own reviews on your very own goodreads site without me. What do you think about that?
El: Good! And maybe someday I could read it to you!!!
Dad: That would be fantastic. And you could ask me questions about the book, and then type up the answers!!!
El: And you could tell me how many stars to give it!
Dad: I can't wait!
Eleanor: Daddy? I'm afraid I'm going to have to give it four, because two bad things happened. ...Two really bad things, you know? ... ... You know? ...
Dad: What two bad things?
Eleanor: Well,
Eleanor: I'm giving it four stars, although it's hard to give it four stars on my last Little House book, you know?
Dad: Because you liked them all so much?
El: Yes.
Dad: Did you feel bad when it was over?
El: Yes... Little House is all over now. I wish I could be a child again. I wish I could unread Little House so I can read them all again, but I can't.
Dad: No. But you can still read them all again. Did you cry when it ended?
El: Yes. How come you want to know?
Dad: I just find it interesting.
El: Why do you find it interesting that I cried? I find it sad that I cried.
Dad: Well, it shows that you really loved the books. ***This is me, I'm not saying this outloud to Eleanor, but she REALLY loved them, and she REALLY cried when they were over. ...A lot...***
Dad: Did you cry a lot or a little?
El: *Laughs* A LOT! (With a smile.) Did you feel sad when it ended?
Dad: Yeah. I mean, we've spent what? Three years reading these books out loud? I feel like a big milestone of my time with you in your childhood is - or has come to a close.
El: YES! I WISH WE COULD LITTLE HOUSE AGAIN AND START OVER!!! AND SAY, "OOOOooooo!!! I wonder what's going to happen in Little House?!?!?!?"
Dad: Hey, you said you had two reasons for giving it four stars, but you only gave me one.
El: No. I had one reason: there are two bad things. Two really, really bad things.
Dad: That's what I mean. You only told me one of the bad things, what's the other one?
El: Oh YEAH, yeah...
Dad: Do you ever wish you lived back in Little House days?
El: (Laughingly): Hmmph... Yeah. Some things were good, and some things were bad. But I don't wish I lived back in Laura's Grandpa's days.
Dad: Why not?
El: Heh. Of course... Because little girls had to behave all the time, not just on Sundays. And they could never slide down the hills like little boys.
Dad: You know that little girls had to "behave" even more in Laura's days than they do today, right?
El: Yes. A little bit. I thought it was easier to be good when she was a kid.
Dad: What do you mean by that?
El: In her days, girls could slide down hills.
Dad: Yes, but there were still a lot of things that girls weren't allowed to do that boys could do, and girls weren't treated as fairly as they are today. In fact, many people today say girls still aren't treated fairly...
El: I can't think of any ways that girls are treated unfairly. Can you think of any ways?
Dad: Yeah, but I don't feel like discussing them with a 7 year old on a public review of a Little House book. Maybe we'll read the Declaration of Sentiments next. ...Maybe not next, but maybe sometime...
El: What's the Declaration of Sentiments?
Dad: A paper where some women said they wanted to be treated fairly. Hopefully we keep treating everyone better, and better. That's what I hope.
El: I hope next year we treat someone better.
Dad: Me too. I'm not sure how we started talking about this. Lets get back to Little House.
El: Good idea.
Dad: So, I know you loved it a whole lot, and I loved it too...
El: (As I'm typing) I loved it too much...
Dad: ...Maybe when you're a couple years older, you could read it to Gwennie, and write your very own reviews on your very own goodreads site without me. What do you think about that?
El: Good! And maybe someday I could read it to you!!!
Dad: That would be fantastic. And you could ask me questions about the book, and then type up the answers!!!
El: And you could tell me how many stars to give it!
Dad: I can't wait!
May 4, 2021
Enjoyable read about their married life and struggles on the farm.
Read
October 1, 2021Mild spoilers throughout the review, but y'all, we've read this book by now, haven't we? Or at least looked up her Wikipedia page and learned the truth?
All right. Good. Now proceed.
This was yet another book I swore to reread as an adult. So here I am, officially an adult by my own standards, rereading this book.
When I was probably 12, I read this book the first time, by myself as my mom didn't want to read it again (for obvious reasons, I now see!) and was confused and disappointed. I realized, for the first time, that I had been reading Rose's fictional reflection on her mother's retelling of events she probably didn't remember super clearly. I realized that, even though I'd felt for years that the Little House books dealt with plenty tragedy, they hadn't scratched the surface. I realized it was a fantasy. And at 12, you know, I was old enough to be okay with that.
At 14 or so, I reread it and noticed a lot of elements I hadn't the first time (Laura's bitterness, the loss of her second baby, the way she clearly wants to prove herself to parents who don't really believe in her - granted, for good reason, tbh - even her little "well, at least I enjoyed it" in reference to the *coughs* creation of Rose ... thanks, Laura, always good to know xD).
I also realized the full story that my mom had briefly told me as a kid - that a "friend" (not my friend, thank you very much) had published this draft, really more of an outline by my writing standards, that Laura scribbled out and forgot (probably losing interest after her husband's death), that Rose didn't rewrite, that were not meant to be published.
And I'm glad they were published. But if I ever get famous, I'm going to seriously consider deleting all my old drafts, because I wouldn't want this kind of draft out there. And I think Laura probably wouldn't want this available for all to read, either. Rose didn't seem to, either. I can see why.
Now, I'm 20 and married, and I don't feel like an adult, much as Laura probably didn't at 19, and I'm 100% sure I'll face tragedy in the next four years. So good as time as any to reread it, right?
And you know, it's an interesting story. It makes you realize that Laura was writing her own life however she wanted to write it, and then her daughter was rewriting this "however I want it to be", and when that happens, a lot gets changed and covered up. (Also, children's fiction.)
I came across the theory that Laura was probably just as whiny and stuck-up as Mary, as weak and easily-influenced as Carrie, and as she probably lived out her wish for herself ("my stubbornness is charming" - and yes, the book character is - "my gambling, foolish nature makes me heroic" - and in the books, it does!) through these books.
Which sounds exactly like something I would do if I weren't trying to be a little more self-aware.
I also realized that she was probably reliving, through writing, a tragic and even traumatic life to process some serious stuff. Like almost starving multiple times and having to face tons of dangerous illnesses multiple times and losing a brother and having a sister go blind and moving away from homes over and over again and losing a baby (and then literally never talking about it) and having your husband refuse to listen to you when you say, "I don't want to do this thing my dad spent his whole life failing at. Also, you shouldn't probably rule the budget because you are a spoiled (almost) youngest child."
Basically, if you don't have a safe life, you try to create something comforting and safe. And honestly, these books are that. So comforting and safe, even when rough things happen.
And you know what? Despite it all, you can tell Laura loved her husband. She did, and she loved her baby daughter, too. And she loved her family in general, though I feel a lot of unrealized frustration toward her father and a lot of realized frustration toward her mother. Which is understandable.
Even the starkness and the bareness and openness of this book can't take that away. Nor can it take away Laura's temper - how I love her temper.
Anyways, basically, I have reread this book and found it to be very interesting and without rating. How could you rate this book? I don't know how. Everyone else has been able to, but I just don't know how to begin.
Should I rate it out of anger at the publisher? Should I rate for my disappointment, my disillusionment? Should I rate it based on how depressed it made me? Should I rate it out of respect for Laura? Should I rate my level of approval at her self-revisions of her life? Should I rate it out of respect for Rose's skills as a writer in the other books?
I don't know - I don't know! So I don't rate it. And I say, "Wow, Laura. What a life you led! And I'm sorry for those first four years, and, probably, the years before them. And I hope you have peace now."
Read this book - but do me a favor and read the first eight a completed series then read this one whenever you're ready for reality. It's not really a novel in the series, at least not as intended by the author. However, as a spin-off, perhaps even a short biography, I think it's fantastic.
And wow, does it make you think!
All right. Good. Now proceed.
This was yet another book I swore to reread as an adult. So here I am, officially an adult by my own standards, rereading this book.
When I was probably 12, I read this book the first time, by myself as my mom didn't want to read it again (for obvious reasons, I now see!) and was confused and disappointed. I realized, for the first time, that I had been reading Rose's fictional reflection on her mother's retelling of events she probably didn't remember super clearly. I realized that, even though I'd felt for years that the Little House books dealt with plenty tragedy, they hadn't scratched the surface. I realized it was a fantasy. And at 12, you know, I was old enough to be okay with that.
At 14 or so, I reread it and noticed a lot of elements I hadn't the first time (Laura's bitterness, the loss of her second baby, the way she clearly wants to prove herself to parents who don't really believe in her - granted, for good reason, tbh - even her little "well, at least I enjoyed it" in reference to the *coughs* creation of Rose ... thanks, Laura, always good to know xD).
I also realized the full story that my mom had briefly told me as a kid - that a "friend" (not my friend, thank you very much) had published this draft, really more of an outline by my writing standards, that Laura scribbled out and forgot (probably losing interest after her husband's death), that Rose didn't rewrite, that were not meant to be published.
And I'm glad they were published. But if I ever get famous, I'm going to seriously consider deleting all my old drafts, because I wouldn't want this kind of draft out there. And I think Laura probably wouldn't want this available for all to read, either. Rose didn't seem to, either. I can see why.
Now, I'm 20 and married, and I don't feel like an adult, much as Laura probably didn't at 19, and I'm 100% sure I'll face tragedy in the next four years. So good as time as any to reread it, right?
And you know, it's an interesting story. It makes you realize that Laura was writing her own life however she wanted to write it, and then her daughter was rewriting this "however I want it to be", and when that happens, a lot gets changed and covered up. (Also, children's fiction.)
I came across the theory that Laura was probably just as whiny and stuck-up as Mary, as weak and easily-influenced as Carrie, and as she probably lived out her wish for herself ("my stubbornness is charming" - and yes, the book character is - "my gambling, foolish nature makes me heroic" - and in the books, it does!) through these books.
Which sounds exactly like something I would do if I weren't trying to be a little more self-aware.
I also realized that she was probably reliving, through writing, a tragic and even traumatic life to process some serious stuff. Like almost starving multiple times and having to face tons of dangerous illnesses multiple times and losing a brother and having a sister go blind and moving away from homes over and over again and losing a baby (and then literally never talking about it) and having your husband refuse to listen to you when you say, "I don't want to do this thing my dad spent his whole life failing at. Also, you shouldn't probably rule the budget because you are a spoiled (almost) youngest child."
Basically, if you don't have a safe life, you try to create something comforting and safe. And honestly, these books are that. So comforting and safe, even when rough things happen.
And you know what? Despite it all, you can tell Laura loved her husband. She did, and she loved her baby daughter, too. And she loved her family in general, though I feel a lot of unrealized frustration toward her father and a lot of realized frustration toward her mother. Which is understandable.
Even the starkness and the bareness and openness of this book can't take that away. Nor can it take away Laura's temper - how I love her temper.
Anyways, basically, I have reread this book and found it to be very interesting and without rating. How could you rate this book? I don't know how. Everyone else has been able to, but I just don't know how to begin.
Should I rate it out of anger at the publisher? Should I rate for my disappointment, my disillusionment? Should I rate it based on how depressed it made me? Should I rate it out of respect for Laura? Should I rate my level of approval at her self-revisions of her life? Should I rate it out of respect for Rose's skills as a writer in the other books?
I don't know - I don't know! So I don't rate it. And I say, "Wow, Laura. What a life you led! And I'm sorry for those first four years, and, probably, the years before them. And I hope you have peace now."
Read this book - but do me a favor and read the first eight a completed series then read this one whenever you're ready for reality. It's not really a novel in the series, at least not as intended by the author. However, as a spin-off, perhaps even a short biography, I think it's fantastic.
And wow, does it make you think!
March 10, 2016
This book reads differently than the previous Little House books. It tells the story of the first few years of Almanzo and Laura's marriage, and how they struggled to make a living on the plains.
In the introduction, Roger Lea MacBride (who wrote the series that follows the adventures of Rose, Laura's daughter) says that this handwritten manuscript was found among Laura's papers, and that it wasn't revised and edited the way the earlier books were, perhaps because Laura lost interest after Almanzo died. So The First Four Years was published as Laura's original draft. It's a bit clunky in parts, and much shorter than the previous books. Having paged through the publication of Laura's annotated autobiography, Pioneer Girl, it seems that the earlier revision process really fleshed out the stories, adding a lot of description to the narrative. And that revision didn't happen here, so this book isn't as richly written as the others.
I have now reread the entire Little House series, and this final book of Laura's had a lot of tragedy in it: devastating storms, crop failures, and even a terrible fire. And yet, it was nice to know that the family survived and later thrived — they just had to weather some rough years. Recommended for those who like pioneer stories.
In the introduction, Roger Lea MacBride (who wrote the series that follows the adventures of Rose, Laura's daughter) says that this handwritten manuscript was found among Laura's papers, and that it wasn't revised and edited the way the earlier books were, perhaps because Laura lost interest after Almanzo died. So The First Four Years was published as Laura's original draft. It's a bit clunky in parts, and much shorter than the previous books. Having paged through the publication of Laura's annotated autobiography, Pioneer Girl, it seems that the earlier revision process really fleshed out the stories, adding a lot of description to the narrative. And that revision didn't happen here, so this book isn't as richly written as the others.
I have now reread the entire Little House series, and this final book of Laura's had a lot of tragedy in it: devastating storms, crop failures, and even a terrible fire. And yet, it was nice to know that the family survived and later thrived — they just had to weather some rough years. Recommended for those who like pioneer stories.
January 7, 2020
The last in the Little House on the Prairie series we listened to through the previous eight books, though I listened o this on my own. It's a different tone, an adult story, after the transition for Laura from pioneer girl to pioneer wife. I had read many of them while growing up with my sisters (as we watched the Michael Landon series, too), but not this one, as it was published after Laura and ever daughter Rose had died.
It's much shorter than the others in the series, too, 4 years in 190 pages, and it focuses more on challenges than triumphs. There's a recap from book eight of the wedding and Laura's seeing the house (that handmade pantry!) for the first time. As with the other books, there is a kind of ethnographic feel to it, and this one captures farming practices, the weather. They have horses, and they get sheep, they fend off fires and epic storms and illness and back-breakingly long hours of work. Laura bears two children, strengthened by one of the hymns Pa used to sing. There's one death they have to face as well.
Most people think of the first eight books as the series, as that focuses on Laura as a girl with Ma and Pa, but I thought this was a fine conclusion. I maybe think of it as three stars, somewhat less than the previous books because it feels less personal, less dialogue, less relationship focus, but if you have read all of it as I have, you are glad for this one last look at Laura.
It's much shorter than the others in the series, too, 4 years in 190 pages, and it focuses more on challenges than triumphs. There's a recap from book eight of the wedding and Laura's seeing the house (that handmade pantry!) for the first time. As with the other books, there is a kind of ethnographic feel to it, and this one captures farming practices, the weather. They have horses, and they get sheep, they fend off fires and epic storms and illness and back-breakingly long hours of work. Laura bears two children, strengthened by one of the hymns Pa used to sing. There's one death they have to face as well.
Most people think of the first eight books as the series, as that focuses on Laura as a girl with Ma and Pa, but I thought this was a fine conclusion. I maybe think of it as three stars, somewhat less than the previous books because it feels less personal, less dialogue, less relationship focus, but if you have read all of it as I have, you are glad for this one last look at Laura.
October 23, 2025
Don’t let the colourful, pleasant cover fool you - this is a miserable book. Someone tries to buy her first baby, her second baby dies, their house burns down, and her husband doesn’t keep the promise he makes to her at the beginning of the book. Which somehow I found the most galling thing out of all of it. Having said that, I did throughly enjoy this book, so there’s that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 6, 2016
Does anything ever grow on this prairie? It's one thing after another - blizzards, tornadoes, heat, prairie fires, hail. Any thing kills the crops.
The most depressing installment of all. Laura seems to only take pleasure in running outside, riding horses and sometimes her daughter. Definitely NOT any kind of housework.
But I think I will end up reading everything Laura Ingalls Wilder has ever written.
The most depressing installment of all. Laura seems to only take pleasure in running outside, riding horses and sometimes her daughter. Definitely NOT any kind of housework.
But I think I will end up reading everything Laura Ingalls Wilder has ever written.
Read
November 3, 2015The First Four Years
I was trying to put my finger on the real difference between the tone of this book and the tone of the other eight Little House books. Laura is almost a different character here. I guess that is because she is a grownup. It is not exactly the fact that there is so much hardship and tragedy in this book; it’s more that she actually gives us the hardship and tragedy, and everything else, without tempering it. In By the Shores of Silver Lake, we skip over the real-life death of her younger brother. Mary’s illness is only mentioned as the cause of her blindness, a thing that has already happened by the time the book begins. Money troubles are seen through the eyes of a child: the parents will always be there to take care of things.
In The First Four Years, Wilder doesn’t shy away from the really hard truths of adulthood, including agonizing financial problems, devastating illness, the death of her second child, her own responsibility and guilt in starting the fire that destroys her home. The Boasts asking if she’ll give them her baby; the encounter with the Native Americans who want her to run away with them; her exhausting pregnancies and even an oblique reference to having enjoyed the sexual act that led to them; these are all the realm of the adult Laura. And somehow, I feel, we are given a more frank look here at her personality, even though she is the viewpoint character of all her books. She feels more honestly flawed here, but also I get a sense of – this is the difference, actually – a sense of vanity that isn’t there in the other books. A sense of personal pride. I did these things and I’m glad. Go ahead and criticize me if you want. See if I care. In the other books, the omniscient narrator always points out to the reader when Laura is being mean or selfish. In this one, you have to make that judgment for yourself.
What makes this a joyous read for me, despite the grimness of much of the events throughout the book, is the deep love and understanding that Laura and Almanzo have for each other. “It was a carefree, happy time, for two people thoroughly in sympathy can do pretty much as they like.” Two people thoroughly in sympathy. This is her consistent portrayal of Almanzo throughout Wilder’s writing: he is absolutely her soulmate, and they are intellectual and spiritual equals. He is supporting rather than criticizing; he is constantly looking for ways to make her happy. He has his own flaws; he is optimistic to a fault, he is impetuous, he spends money they don’t have and doesn’t always listen to sound advice. But she, too, supports rather than criticizes.
As a child, I never could understand how Almanzo could possibly argue that the farming might have been a success at the end of this four years. “It all depends on how you look at it” – REALLY? WHAT. THE HOUSE JUST BURNED DOWN. But as an adult I do see, yes, they are well supplied with new and modern farm equipment. They have good and valuable stock. They’re solvent enough to become land owners.
But really, it comes down to this: “Two people thoroughly in sympathy can do pretty much as they like.”
The incurable optimism of the farmer who throws his seed on the ground every spring, betting it and his time against the elements, seemed inextricably to blend with the creed of her pioneer forefathers that “it is better farther on” – only instead of farther on in space, it was farther on in time, over the horizon of the years ahead instead of the far horizon of the west.
Still true.
Just as I was finishing this book, my birthday present from my friend Amanda (who travelled with me to De Smet last summer) arrived in the mail. She’d found a bread plate identical to the one Laura and Almanzo bought themselves for their first Christmas together.
My birthday bread plate!
Random E Wein trivia: Laura and Almanzo Wilder have the same wedding anniversary as my grandparents (25 August).
I was trying to put my finger on the real difference between the tone of this book and the tone of the other eight Little House books. Laura is almost a different character here. I guess that is because she is a grownup. It is not exactly the fact that there is so much hardship and tragedy in this book; it’s more that she actually gives us the hardship and tragedy, and everything else, without tempering it. In By the Shores of Silver Lake, we skip over the real-life death of her younger brother. Mary’s illness is only mentioned as the cause of her blindness, a thing that has already happened by the time the book begins. Money troubles are seen through the eyes of a child: the parents will always be there to take care of things.
In The First Four Years, Wilder doesn’t shy away from the really hard truths of adulthood, including agonizing financial problems, devastating illness, the death of her second child, her own responsibility and guilt in starting the fire that destroys her home. The Boasts asking if she’ll give them her baby; the encounter with the Native Americans who want her to run away with them; her exhausting pregnancies and even an oblique reference to having enjoyed the sexual act that led to them; these are all the realm of the adult Laura. And somehow, I feel, we are given a more frank look here at her personality, even though she is the viewpoint character of all her books. She feels more honestly flawed here, but also I get a sense of – this is the difference, actually – a sense of vanity that isn’t there in the other books. A sense of personal pride. I did these things and I’m glad. Go ahead and criticize me if you want. See if I care. In the other books, the omniscient narrator always points out to the reader when Laura is being mean or selfish. In this one, you have to make that judgment for yourself.
What makes this a joyous read for me, despite the grimness of much of the events throughout the book, is the deep love and understanding that Laura and Almanzo have for each other. “It was a carefree, happy time, for two people thoroughly in sympathy can do pretty much as they like.” Two people thoroughly in sympathy. This is her consistent portrayal of Almanzo throughout Wilder’s writing: he is absolutely her soulmate, and they are intellectual and spiritual equals. He is supporting rather than criticizing; he is constantly looking for ways to make her happy. He has his own flaws; he is optimistic to a fault, he is impetuous, he spends money they don’t have and doesn’t always listen to sound advice. But she, too, supports rather than criticizes.
As a child, I never could understand how Almanzo could possibly argue that the farming might have been a success at the end of this four years. “It all depends on how you look at it” – REALLY? WHAT. THE HOUSE JUST BURNED DOWN. But as an adult I do see, yes, they are well supplied with new and modern farm equipment. They have good and valuable stock. They’re solvent enough to become land owners.
But really, it comes down to this: “Two people thoroughly in sympathy can do pretty much as they like.”
The incurable optimism of the farmer who throws his seed on the ground every spring, betting it and his time against the elements, seemed inextricably to blend with the creed of her pioneer forefathers that “it is better farther on” – only instead of farther on in space, it was farther on in time, over the horizon of the years ahead instead of the far horizon of the west.
Still true.
Just as I was finishing this book, my birthday present from my friend Amanda (who travelled with me to De Smet last summer) arrived in the mail. She’d found a bread plate identical to the one Laura and Almanzo bought themselves for their first Christmas together.
My birthday bread plate!
Random E Wein trivia: Laura and Almanzo Wilder have the same wedding anniversary as my grandparents (25 August).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 15, 2012
I read this book when I was a child and was shocked and disappointed by it. The tone is very flat and Laura and Almanzo seem like different people. It seems more of an outline than a full-fledged Little House book. I almost didn't re-read it this time to finish out my re-reading of the entire series, but I decided to steel myself to the task, and I'm actually glad I did. I knew what I was getting into, so it wasn't so shocking and disappointing this time around.
This book begins by re-telling the end of These Happy Golden Years, but this time before they are married, Laura tells Almanzo she doesn't want to be a farmer's wife. How's that now? She feels farming is too difficult and they will always be poor, but Almanzo convinces her to try it out for three years. The couple starts out happily enough, racing their ponies on the prairie and enjoying being newlyweds, but even before the first year is over the tragedies start piling up right along with the growing debt. The first four years were pretty awful.
Almanzo, who seemed so smart and prosperous throughout the entire series, makes horrible financial decisions, and Laura, who doubts the wisdom of what he's doing, lets him do it because "that's his business." (Granted, she's writing about these first four years 60 years after they happened, so she might be turning her hindsight into foresight...) When hail destroys their first wheat crop before it is harvested, he suggests they use the hail to make ice cream, and Laura is thoroughly disgusted with him.
Also, it is revealed here that Almanzo did not build her that fabulous pantry in their house. He hired a carpenter to do it for him. And twice in the first year of marriage Laura orders things from the Montgomery Ward catalog, which just seems downright weird. It's as if this book showcases the reality of the pioneer/settlers life much more so than the first 8 books in the series do. This book lets you see that the first 8 books were idealized and sanitized, which doesn't make me love them any less, but it's kind of like finding out there's no such thing as Santa.
This book begins by re-telling the end of These Happy Golden Years, but this time before they are married, Laura tells Almanzo she doesn't want to be a farmer's wife. How's that now? She feels farming is too difficult and they will always be poor, but Almanzo convinces her to try it out for three years. The couple starts out happily enough, racing their ponies on the prairie and enjoying being newlyweds, but even before the first year is over the tragedies start piling up right along with the growing debt. The first four years were pretty awful.
Almanzo, who seemed so smart and prosperous throughout the entire series, makes horrible financial decisions, and Laura, who doubts the wisdom of what he's doing, lets him do it because "that's his business." (Granted, she's writing about these first four years 60 years after they happened, so she might be turning her hindsight into foresight...) When hail destroys their first wheat crop before it is harvested, he suggests they use the hail to make ice cream, and Laura is thoroughly disgusted with him.
Also, it is revealed here that Almanzo did not build her that fabulous pantry in their house. He hired a carpenter to do it for him. And twice in the first year of marriage Laura orders things from the Montgomery Ward catalog, which just seems downright weird. It's as if this book showcases the reality of the pioneer/settlers life much more so than the first 8 books in the series do. This book lets you see that the first 8 books were idealized and sanitized, which doesn't make me love them any less, but it's kind of like finding out there's no such thing as Santa.
February 11, 2020
By far the weakest of the series. Perhaps it's deserving of a higher rating, because it's basically a draft that Laura didn't complete before her death. But it was just so much more bleak than the other books. Probably closer to reality...but still bleak, which isn't in character with the rest of the books. Laura and Manly just couldn't catch a break! Still, I enjoyed it, and it was a quick read. Now that I've completed my reread I'm looking forward to reading Caroline (a book from Ma's perspective) and Prairie Fires (pulitzer prize winning nonfiction)!
January 26, 2011
Be warned! This book is very, very different from all the other books in the Little House on the Prairie series. In fact, this book makes it easy to see how embellished the other books are and the positive spin that was put on them. Because it was published after the death of Laura and her daughter, it is not quite complete as well. It was taken directly from Laura's notebooks that were found in her belongings after her death and barely any editing was done on them. That being said, this book isn't necessarily worse than the others, just entirely different. The rest of the books, for those who have no read them, detailed Laura Ingalls Wilder's childhood growing up and being a pioneer girl with her Ma, Pa, and three sisters.
The First Four Years details the first four years of Laura and Almanzo's (who she calls Manlly in this book) marriage. They set up house on his tree claim after agreeing to try farming for three years. The first year passes quickly they seem happy enough and even more so when Laura is expecting. They have a daughter, Rose, and Laura completely loves her and is quite devoted to her. They remain somewhat happy but do manage to have quite the disastourous next few years. It seems that everything bad that can happen, will happen. They have to suffer through crops being destroyed, illness and other hardships in those four years.
The characters in this are much changed from the other books. They are less like characters in this book and more like the real thing and its a little easier to see that Laura wrote from the heart and didn't try to make this an easy children's story. Its more of an outline with all the emotions she felt still showing. Manly is kind of distanced and doesn't seem to be as good with finances as he in in the other books. Laura is more mature but sadly leaves most of the decision to Manly.
The book is short and is more a series of little stories from those four years. It is still mostly appropriate for children although there are a few sections that made even me pause. This could be considered a spoiler for the book so do beware. The first thing that made me pause was the Boasts (friends of Laura's) that offered to give Laura and Manly their best horse for Rose when she was a baby. Being childless they were probably desperate but it was still a shock to read about the situation in the children's book. The next was the death of their son. Maybe it was just me, but I couldn't help but feel that Laura seemed almost relieved when it was back to being just her, Rose, and Almanzo. I'm sure she cared for the boy (who wasn't alive long enough to be named) but I just didn't get that emotion in the book. I also noticed that in the writing of this book, some facts contradicted what the other books had say, like Manly having a milk cow before Laura married him.
This book is still very important to read when it comes to the series. It is depressing and I can see why Laura never published it on her own, but it does explain a lot and continue her story. The entire series is a wonderful read and despite the tone of this book, it is vital to the collection.
The First Four Years
Copyright 1971
134 pages
The First Four Years details the first four years of Laura and Almanzo's (who she calls Manlly in this book) marriage. They set up house on his tree claim after agreeing to try farming for three years. The first year passes quickly they seem happy enough and even more so when Laura is expecting. They have a daughter, Rose, and Laura completely loves her and is quite devoted to her. They remain somewhat happy but do manage to have quite the disastourous next few years. It seems that everything bad that can happen, will happen. They have to suffer through crops being destroyed, illness and other hardships in those four years.
The characters in this are much changed from the other books. They are less like characters in this book and more like the real thing and its a little easier to see that Laura wrote from the heart and didn't try to make this an easy children's story. Its more of an outline with all the emotions she felt still showing. Manly is kind of distanced and doesn't seem to be as good with finances as he in in the other books. Laura is more mature but sadly leaves most of the decision to Manly.
The book is short and is more a series of little stories from those four years. It is still mostly appropriate for children although there are a few sections that made even me pause. This could be considered a spoiler for the book so do beware. The first thing that made me pause was the Boasts (friends of Laura's) that offered to give Laura and Manly their best horse for Rose when she was a baby. Being childless they were probably desperate but it was still a shock to read about the situation in the children's book. The next was the death of their son. Maybe it was just me, but I couldn't help but feel that Laura seemed almost relieved when it was back to being just her, Rose, and Almanzo. I'm sure she cared for the boy (who wasn't alive long enough to be named) but I just didn't get that emotion in the book. I also noticed that in the writing of this book, some facts contradicted what the other books had say, like Manly having a milk cow before Laura married him.
This book is still very important to read when it comes to the series. It is depressing and I can see why Laura never published it on her own, but it does explain a lot and continue her story. The entire series is a wonderful read and despite the tone of this book, it is vital to the collection.
The First Four Years
Copyright 1971
134 pages
July 3, 2025
I have very fond memories of reading this series!
One morning, the first summer I was truly reading on my own, my mom came home from yard sale hopping and beckoned me to follow her into the backyard. There, lying on the lawn was a vintage trunk, which, I have to admit now, was in poor condition. To younger me, though, it was old and unique and seemed magically transportive.
But the trunk wasn’t for me she explained. Inside, she’d put some old books she had found. The now familiar covers of a girl on a horse, a boy and some oxen, and a quaint little prairie town were staring up at me. These were all for me, and probably because they were first shown to me in the old chest, seemed all the more enchanting.
I devoured them.
It’s been a while since then 😜, but it won’t be long now before I’m reading them anew with my two kiddos.
Maybe I should put them in a trunk.
I recently threw a Farmer Boy themed book party which you can see in this reel!
Ages: 5+
Content Considerations: nothing to note.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide Content Considerations, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
If you’re considering a book or looking for a new title to read, check out my highly categorized shelves, read my reviews and Friend or Follow me to spiff up your feed with clean, wholesome, living books.
I have an Instagram account that’s pretty bookishly unique too!
One morning, the first summer I was truly reading on my own, my mom came home from yard sale hopping and beckoned me to follow her into the backyard. There, lying on the lawn was a vintage trunk, which, I have to admit now, was in poor condition. To younger me, though, it was old and unique and seemed magically transportive.
But the trunk wasn’t for me she explained. Inside, she’d put some old books she had found. The now familiar covers of a girl on a horse, a boy and some oxen, and a quaint little prairie town were staring up at me. These were all for me, and probably because they were first shown to me in the old chest, seemed all the more enchanting.
I devoured them.
It’s been a while since then 😜, but it won’t be long now before I’m reading them anew with my two kiddos.
Maybe I should put them in a trunk.
I recently threw a Farmer Boy themed book party which you can see in this reel!
Ages: 5+
Content Considerations: nothing to note.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide Content Considerations, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
If you’re considering a book or looking for a new title to read, check out my highly categorized shelves, read my reviews and Friend or Follow me to spiff up your feed with clean, wholesome, living books.
I have an Instagram account that’s pretty bookishly unique too!
February 7, 2017
As the Introduction tells us, Laura Ingalls Wilder left a first draft to this book and it was only published after her death. In many ways, it reads like a first draft: it has the feeling of a rough outline of events. It is more developed than diary shorthand, but not as crafted as most of the "Little House" stories. I remember reading it as a child, and then again as a young woman; what I didn't quite remember is how sadness it contains. This book is about, as the title implies, the first four years of Laura and Almanzo's life together. I'm glad that the Introduction reminded me that they both lived into their 90s, because I wouldn't have guessed that from these dramatic, tragedy-filled years. The major takeaway of this book is that farming is a hard and often heartbreaking way to make a living. Every time it seems like Laura and Almanzo might finally get ahead, and whittle down their debts, some horrendous act of nature spoils a year's work. There is drought, hail, windstorms, blizzards and other bad luck. The loss of a child, diptheria, and a tragic fire are also on the tragic tally. Against all this, there is not much good news - other than the birth of their daughter Rose. Almanzo asks Laura for three years - in order to prove that farming in South Dakota can be a viable way to make a living - and they drag it out for seven before finally abandoning their homestead and trying their luck in Missouri.
I wouldn't recommend this for a sensitive reader or anyone under the age of 12. It's definitely worthwhile if you are fascinated by LIW's story, but it is emotionally harrowing in its way - not sweet and idyllic as its book cover implies.
I wouldn't recommend this for a sensitive reader or anyone under the age of 12. It's definitely worthwhile if you are fascinated by LIW's story, but it is emotionally harrowing in its way - not sweet and idyllic as its book cover implies.
February 20, 2018
After "These Happy Golden Years", this book seems like a standalone. The story is told well, but here are my reasons for not including it in the Little House set. It begins with a narrative of Almanzo and Laura's proposal and wedding that differs in some details from the account in the book before. Laura calls Almanzo "Manly" in this book, but not in any others. In addition, there were some very not golden years when they were first married and I really missed having Ma and Pa in the story. It seems like they would have been close enough to visit more often.
August 23, 2011
This was the "shit just got real" variation of the Little House series. I understand life was tough back then but this book was kind of jarring after all the pioneer whimsy of the other books. It was also awkward since it was just written out from a manuscript. It could definitely use a good edit.
It was interesting as well that Laura wrote herself as kind of a weaker person in this story. I know her daughter helped write the earlier books and the generation gap in the narrative voice really stuck out to me. Early Laura is sort of the strong female heroine archetype and this Laura doesn't want to think about money problems because that's a man's concern!
It was interesting as well that Laura wrote herself as kind of a weaker person in this story. I know her daughter helped write the earlier books and the generation gap in the narrative voice really stuck out to me. Early Laura is sort of the strong female heroine archetype and this Laura doesn't want to think about money problems because that's a man's concern!
May 12, 2011
This book was, finally, refreshingly honest. I loved the previous 8 books, but was always a bit bothered at how Laura's true feelings were rarely described. Finally hearing about the boredom that Laura felt as a new mother, about how she didn't want Manly to be a farmer, and how she occasionally hated the stink of their farm stock was quite satisfying to me.
And, "Manly?" Two things about this nickname: first, have I been pronouncing his name incorrectly? Is it not "Ahl-MAHN-zoh?" Second, I wish we had read this sooner. So endearing and telling of their friendship-based relationship. What guy wouldn't want his nickname to be 'Manly?' ;)
As an adult, I now understand why these books are classics. In many ways, I wish I could go back and live as Laura did. Life was so hard, but so simple. People in her time avoided debt, valued self-education, and spent most of their lives working out doors. What wonderful ideals to strive for.
And, "Manly?" Two things about this nickname: first, have I been pronouncing his name incorrectly? Is it not "Ahl-MAHN-zoh?" Second, I wish we had read this sooner. So endearing and telling of their friendship-based relationship. What guy wouldn't want his nickname to be 'Manly?' ;)
As an adult, I now understand why these books are classics. In many ways, I wish I could go back and live as Laura did. Life was so hard, but so simple. People in her time avoided debt, valued self-education, and spent most of their lives working out doors. What wonderful ideals to strive for.
December 30, 2016
I grew up on the Little House books and had no idea that this story of Laura and Almanzo's first years of marriage even existed. Grittier than the earlier books and sometimes quite scary--that blizzard! My edition has excellent illustrations by Garth Williams.
January 30, 2021
Although I do bien sûr much appreciate having now also read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s posthumously (in 1971) published (and generally unedited and as such rather majorly stark and raw) The First Four Years (which basically, as the title suggests, portrays Laura Ingalls and Almanzo Wilder’s first four years of marriage), I also and honestly do have to and very readily admit that with regard to both content and writing style, The First Four Years has not really been all that delightful as a personal reading experience.
For albeit that after recently encountering a number of Laura Ingalls Wilder biographies, I do well realise and understand that the first years of Laura and Almanzo’s life as a married couple were in fact extremely rough and beset with and by many agricultural set-backs and home based tragedies, I still do tend to find the almost list-like litany of one potential horror after another (and how this is narrationally featured and shown in The First Four Years) more than a trifle tedious and generally also much too frustrating and painful for me to truly in any manner enjoy perusing. And yes indeed, I am as such certainly also quite majorly happy that I did in fact NOT read The First Four Years as a young reader, as a child, as I do tend think that for my childhood self, the sheer amount of desperation encountered in The First Four Years and how this is basically all stacked into a huge mountain of textual pain and suffering by Laura Ingalls Wilder, it really would have been rather too much for me to bear and adequately deal with at a young reading age.
But well, even as an older adult, while I do indeed much appreciate the historical reality and authentic seeming accuracy which Laura Ingalls Wilder depicts in The First Four Years, I still really cannot say that I have actually found all that much if any joy and pleasure with and in The First Four Years , that I have certainly not found Laura Ingalls Wilder’s text all that engaging and emotionally satisfying. Because aside from the rather in one’s face contents and thematics of tragedy upon tragedy, in particular, the sparse and lacking in emotion, in dialogue and exposition style of narrative expression encountered in The First Four Years, this really does not at all appeal to my own and personal verbal and syntactic aesthetics. And yes, for me, The First Four Years does therefore and in fact majorly annoyingly feel rather more like an outline, that narrationally speaking, there really does need to be considerably more textual story meat included (and considering that ALL of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s other Little House on the Prairie novels had been meticulously edited by Laura’s daughter Rose Wilder Lane, perhaps The First Four Years, maybe this unedited and for me only like a basic sketch of Laura and Almanzo’s first years of marriage should either not have been published at all or should have also been much expanded and edited).
For albeit that after recently encountering a number of Laura Ingalls Wilder biographies, I do well realise and understand that the first years of Laura and Almanzo’s life as a married couple were in fact extremely rough and beset with and by many agricultural set-backs and home based tragedies, I still do tend to find the almost list-like litany of one potential horror after another (and how this is narrationally featured and shown in The First Four Years) more than a trifle tedious and generally also much too frustrating and painful for me to truly in any manner enjoy perusing. And yes indeed, I am as such certainly also quite majorly happy that I did in fact NOT read The First Four Years as a young reader, as a child, as I do tend think that for my childhood self, the sheer amount of desperation encountered in The First Four Years and how this is basically all stacked into a huge mountain of textual pain and suffering by Laura Ingalls Wilder, it really would have been rather too much for me to bear and adequately deal with at a young reading age.
But well, even as an older adult, while I do indeed much appreciate the historical reality and authentic seeming accuracy which Laura Ingalls Wilder depicts in The First Four Years, I still really cannot say that I have actually found all that much if any joy and pleasure with and in The First Four Years , that I have certainly not found Laura Ingalls Wilder’s text all that engaging and emotionally satisfying. Because aside from the rather in one’s face contents and thematics of tragedy upon tragedy, in particular, the sparse and lacking in emotion, in dialogue and exposition style of narrative expression encountered in The First Four Years, this really does not at all appeal to my own and personal verbal and syntactic aesthetics. And yes, for me, The First Four Years does therefore and in fact majorly annoyingly feel rather more like an outline, that narrationally speaking, there really does need to be considerably more textual story meat included (and considering that ALL of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s other Little House on the Prairie novels had been meticulously edited by Laura’s daughter Rose Wilder Lane, perhaps The First Four Years, maybe this unedited and for me only like a basic sketch of Laura and Almanzo’s first years of marriage should either not have been published at all or should have also been much expanded and edited).
June 15, 2024
Laura and Almanzo work hard at farming through their first four years of marriage. They can never seem to get ahead with their debts for farming equipment. Just when they think they will have a good crop of wheat, the weather turns nasty and ruins all their hopes. Their daughter Rose is born and brings them a lot joy, but they also have heartaches and disaster strikes their little farm. Still, they are unified in their love and in their determination to triumph over nature and make their farm a success.
I love how Laura uses Almanzo's nickname "Manly" in this book. So adorable! It's so sweet to see how they care for each other and work hard to support each other through illness and pain, through happy times of celebration, and through everything in between.
Almanzo is doing his best, but he's not very smart with money. I think he is used to having a prosperous farm like his parents did, and he wants to provide those riches for his new family. But Laura is used to living in squalid conditions on the prairie and being content with very little, so she is more careful with money. The debt seems to weigh more heavily on her mind than it does for Almanzo.
This book is my least favorite in the series, because it has so many disasters and heartaches one after another. The happy times seem to be few and far between. They are sick and people die and they lose part of their claim. There are fires and tornadoes and blizzards and drought. It's just so depressing.
This book is also different from the other books in the series because the author never finished revising and editing it. These are just her preliminary notes for the book, and so the book is not complete. The writing doesn't flow like the other books, and it's much shorter than the other books too.
I love how Laura uses Almanzo's nickname "Manly" in this book. So adorable! It's so sweet to see how they care for each other and work hard to support each other through illness and pain, through happy times of celebration, and through everything in between.
Almanzo is doing his best, but he's not very smart with money. I think he is used to having a prosperous farm like his parents did, and he wants to provide those riches for his new family. But Laura is used to living in squalid conditions on the prairie and being content with very little, so she is more careful with money. The debt seems to weigh more heavily on her mind than it does for Almanzo.
This book is my least favorite in the series, because it has so many disasters and heartaches one after another. The happy times seem to be few and far between. They are sick and people die and they lose part of their claim. There are fires and tornadoes and blizzards and drought. It's just so depressing.
This book is also different from the other books in the series because the author never finished revising and editing it. These are just her preliminary notes for the book, and so the book is not complete. The writing doesn't flow like the other books, and it's much shorter than the other books too.
June 16, 2021
"The ground was covered with hailstones so thickly, it looked covered with a sheet of ice, and they even lay in drifts here and there. Leaves and branches were stripped off the young trees and the sun shone with a feeble, watery light over the wreck. The wreck, thought Laura, of a year's work, of hopes and plans of ease and pleasure. Well, there would be no threshers to cook for." (PG. 55)
This was a nice quick read into the first four years of marriage and farmer life for Laura Ingalls Wilde and her husband, Almanzo. It was interesting to see their struggles and how calm and sometimes stressed she was through the situations she went through. I feel like she was a good understanding wife. She gave her husband the chance to prove himself and his ambitions. I think if a woman went through this in modern times there would be feuding and divorce involved.
They had their first and only child, Rose, that was doted on. It was funny to see that motherhood hasn't changed much and how kids can get into dangerous situations especially in a farm with animals.
It's been a long time since I've read any 'Little House' books but I am curious about reading more. I did love the show when I was young.
This was a nice quick read into the first four years of marriage and farmer life for Laura Ingalls Wilde and her husband, Almanzo. It was interesting to see their struggles and how calm and sometimes stressed she was through the situations she went through. I feel like she was a good understanding wife. She gave her husband the chance to prove himself and his ambitions. I think if a woman went through this in modern times there would be feuding and divorce involved.
They had their first and only child, Rose, that was doted on. It was funny to see that motherhood hasn't changed much and how kids can get into dangerous situations especially in a farm with animals.
It's been a long time since I've read any 'Little House' books but I am curious about reading more. I did love the show when I was young.
June 9, 2007
So I loved the Little House series, but I hated this book. It's not that Laura isn't fun now that she's married--but it's not as interesting or as well written as the others in the series, and it's hard to watch awful things happen to characters you love.
August 16, 2019
My third read. A short, bitter, though optimistic ending to Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series.
My review:
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My review:
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February 6, 2017
Reread January 15, 2017.
Oh, these were a fun few weeks with the Little House series. My parents moved for the first time since I had lived at home and moving necessitated that all childhood mementos be returned to the children. Mostly, us kids had to go through a ton of books.
So, my mom sent me home with the Little House books. It was funny, my sisters and I went through each childhood book, debating about who should take which book (it ultimately became a test of who remembered which book most dearly)... but when it came to this boxed set of Little House books, my mom adamantly stated they were mine.
I did love and read these as a kid, but I don't remember loving them the most. I am fairly sure I never reread them past the age of ten or so, although I loved reading, and rereading, some spin-off series of Laura in Mansfield, Missouri, as a grown-up fighting for the female right to vote, etc.
I feel like these past few weeks, rereading the series as an adult, has allowed me to rediscover my love for the Ingalls. I had forgotten but had remembered so much still. I am 32 and, for having not read these in 20 years, it was funny the things I had remembered: the China shepherdess, how special each Christmas was, oranges at the birthday party, the grasshoppers devouring the crop, Almanzo's whip, Pa's sweet fiddle, Mary's small stitches, and most funny or all: I very distinctly remembered Laura's new pantry in her first married home and could not wait to read about it (why do I remember the PANTRY?)...
I really liked all of these, but loved The Long Winter, The Little Town on the Prairie, and Those Happy Golden Years best of all. They have the most plot, Laura is older and more interesting, and, perhaps because she is older, we are allowed to see that pioneering isn't as easy as it had seemed earlier. The last in the series, The First Four Years, was published posthumously (both deaths of Laura and her daughter, Rose) and it is clear that Rose's editorial skills and experience as a writer had made quite the difference in the previous Little House books. Although... it is also clear that Rose provided rosier colored glasses on Frontier living.
Most of all, as an adult who now has the Internet at her disposal, I had the most fun googling during this Little House experience. I saw Pa's homestead claims scanned online, I read about the grasshopper blight, the meteorology and weather records of the longest, hardest winter on record in America, I image-searched button lamps, whatnot cabinets, door latches. It was a lovely rereading experience.
Oh, these were a fun few weeks with the Little House series. My parents moved for the first time since I had lived at home and moving necessitated that all childhood mementos be returned to the children. Mostly, us kids had to go through a ton of books.
So, my mom sent me home with the Little House books. It was funny, my sisters and I went through each childhood book, debating about who should take which book (it ultimately became a test of who remembered which book most dearly)... but when it came to this boxed set of Little House books, my mom adamantly stated they were mine.
I did love and read these as a kid, but I don't remember loving them the most. I am fairly sure I never reread them past the age of ten or so, although I loved reading, and rereading, some spin-off series of Laura in Mansfield, Missouri, as a grown-up fighting for the female right to vote, etc.
I feel like these past few weeks, rereading the series as an adult, has allowed me to rediscover my love for the Ingalls. I had forgotten but had remembered so much still. I am 32 and, for having not read these in 20 years, it was funny the things I had remembered: the China shepherdess, how special each Christmas was, oranges at the birthday party, the grasshoppers devouring the crop, Almanzo's whip, Pa's sweet fiddle, Mary's small stitches, and most funny or all: I very distinctly remembered Laura's new pantry in her first married home and could not wait to read about it (why do I remember the PANTRY?)...
I really liked all of these, but loved The Long Winter, The Little Town on the Prairie, and Those Happy Golden Years best of all. They have the most plot, Laura is older and more interesting, and, perhaps because she is older, we are allowed to see that pioneering isn't as easy as it had seemed earlier. The last in the series, The First Four Years, was published posthumously (both deaths of Laura and her daughter, Rose) and it is clear that Rose's editorial skills and experience as a writer had made quite the difference in the previous Little House books. Although... it is also clear that Rose provided rosier colored glasses on Frontier living.
Most of all, as an adult who now has the Internet at her disposal, I had the most fun googling during this Little House experience. I saw Pa's homestead claims scanned online, I read about the grasshopper blight, the meteorology and weather records of the longest, hardest winter on record in America, I image-searched button lamps, whatnot cabinets, door latches. It was a lovely rereading experience.
September 30, 2014
It was suggested to me that this last Little House book perhaps be left out of the read-aloud-to-my-boys lineup, so I revisited it on my own. And I think that was a wise suggestion--best to just leave the series on the happy ending of These Happy Golden Years. This one is dark, very different in tone and content from the rest of the series--likely because it was published after the death of Laura's daughter and was printed as-is from her journals, unedited.
You realize immediately you're in for something very different with the jarring opening scenes, in which events from These Happy Golden Years are repeated but with changes in the details. Almanzo, who was so courageous and generous and smart in the earlier books, comes across as an idiot here, and the Laura who seemed so headstrong and independent in previous books is suddenly all, "OK dear, drown us in debt, no big deal, it's not my business." What?
I suppose this book is more realistic and less sugar-coated...but for the sake of childhood nostalgia and fun reading aloud, I prefer the warm and happy books to this one. It's a quick read when you're not reading aloud, but too depressing to plow through with my boys.
You realize immediately you're in for something very different with the jarring opening scenes, in which events from These Happy Golden Years are repeated but with changes in the details. Almanzo, who was so courageous and generous and smart in the earlier books, comes across as an idiot here, and the Laura who seemed so headstrong and independent in previous books is suddenly all, "OK dear, drown us in debt, no big deal, it's not my business." What?
I suppose this book is more realistic and less sugar-coated...but for the sake of childhood nostalgia and fun reading aloud, I prefer the warm and happy books to this one. It's a quick read when you're not reading aloud, but too depressing to plow through with my boys.
November 24, 2017
This short book is actually a draft that was discovered posthumously. I expect the plan was to go back and flesh it out. As it stands, it’s a bare-bones account of the most prominent memories of the beginning of the Wilders’ marriage. I still have only read the first five Little House books, and that was years and years ago, so I don’t remember the style of those books very well. I expect this one will be quite different in contrast.
I heard a long time ago that Laura hated dwelling on negative events, and that’s why Mary’s going blind is glossed over and the birth and death of their baby brother is excluded. In this account, it’s just one hardship after another. Laura states what happened but doesn’t dwell on it.
Imagine you’re a newlywed farmer on the frontier. What could go wrong? Whatever you can think of, it happened to these folks. Seriously, we have no right to complain about our lives ever. These pioneers would look at us with contempt because any one of them could kick our butts.
I found the whole account gripping; it was vivid and stark at the same time. It really brought that time and place to life.
I heard a long time ago that Laura hated dwelling on negative events, and that’s why Mary’s going blind is glossed over and the birth and death of their baby brother is excluded. In this account, it’s just one hardship after another. Laura states what happened but doesn’t dwell on it.
Imagine you’re a newlywed farmer on the frontier. What could go wrong? Whatever you can think of, it happened to these folks. Seriously, we have no right to complain about our lives ever. These pioneers would look at us with contempt because any one of them could kick our butts.
I found the whole account gripping; it was vivid and stark at the same time. It really brought that time and place to life.
July 18, 2017
The two words that come to mind as I reflect upon this final book of the Little House Series are perseverance and, of course, grace. For after all the hardships of those first four years of life together, it was the enabling grace of God that gave them the spirit to happily keep pressing on. And after reading this for what is at least the second, but perhaps the third (maybe even fourth) time, I am once again reminded of why Laura is such a hero of mine.
December 12, 2021
The final volume of Laura’s story may be shorter than previous ones, but it manages to conclude her story in a solemn tone. Like she did with her family, Laura and Almanzo face many events of hardship that will test them, but also a few happy surprises during their first few years. In the end, an incredible and triumphant story of a pioneer girl. A (100%/Outstanding)
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