The First Four Years

**Links: Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5 * Book 6 * Book 7 * Book 8**

This is the last book in the Little House series. It was published posthumously and it is a harsher, more honest book than the writing in the other eight books.

It tells the first four years of Laura and Almanzo's marriage. These first years are hard, but Laura does a lot of growing up.

The farming part seems to mostly be a failure. A hailstorm, hot winds, fire, just a series of unfortunate events that caused their wheat crops to fail. But they also manage to successfully raise livestock.

Laura also gives birth to two children during this four year period, the only child to survive, a girl named Rose, was born first, but later on, Laura also had a son who died mere weeks after birth.

Laura's emotions in this book are much more raw than they were previously. I felt Laura's pain. I felt her joy.

But I wish that this book was more like the others. More directed towards the child-like wonder. But it was a good book otherwise - short, but good.

These Happy Golden Years

**Links: Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5 * Book 6 * Book 7**

This book is sort of sweet. Laura is growing up. She is teaching school and even courting.

These Happy Golden Years definitely follows the story of how Laura and Almanzo fall in love. In the beginning, Laura claims she will not marry, that she'll be a teacher for her entire life. But, slowly, over the course of years, she finds that she has begun to care for Almanzo.

Almanzo takes Laura driving every Sunday afternoon. They talk and get to know each other, and a closeness grows between them.

I'm sad that my daughter and I only have one more book left to read in this series. It's been a good series.

Little Town on the Prairie

**Links: Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5 * Book 6**

The Ingalls girls are growing up. Mary goes off to the special college for the blind, Grace is a rambunctious three year old, Carrie is older, but somehow more frail, and Laura, well, she goes through a lot of changes.

As Mary heads off to college, Laura becomes resigned to the fact that in just a short while, she will have to become a teacher to help keep Mary in college. While she isn't excited about it, she accepts it as a must happen.

Nellie Oleson, the horrid girl from their time on Plum Creek, has made a reappearance in De Smet. She is just as stuck up and superior as she had been before, although now her family is broke and she just comes off as a spoiled brat.

And Almanzo seems to be beginning a courtship with Laura. He walks her home from church during a week of revival meetings, and she seems flattered, albeit confused.

Oh to be courted in that time period. I imagine it must have been very romantic. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. Which, I'm pretty sure, is what the next book in this series is about: the love.

The Long Winter

**Links: Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5**

This was a tough read for me. Not because it was hard to read or anything, but because the subject was a little difficult.

The Long Winter is about, well, a long winter. The blizzards hit De Smet, South Dakota in October and did not fully let up until April. The trains that would bring in the food for the town stopped. The trains were not able to move through the cuts before a blizzard filled them in again. The families in the town begin to starve before the winter ends.

Laura, the second oldest, but the oldest seeing child, has to help her parents with everything. She feels the worry that they feel that the entire family won't make it through the winter.

Just a few more books left in this series. I'm excited to share them with my daughter at bedtime.

By the Shores of Silver Lake

**Links: Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4**

I'm still enjoying reading these with my three year old. In this book, the Ingalls family moves...again. But this is supposed to be their final move. They take a homestead in South Dakota, somewhere that is uninhabited at the beginning, but by the end, has the makings of a full town.

The book starts a little sad. The entire family, prior to this book, but after the last book (a few years pass between the two books), suffers from scarlet fever. Mary lost her eyesight, so now she's blind and Laura has to see out loud for her.

It's a book that shows what it was like to homestead and set up a town. I'm excited to see what the next book has in store.

On the Banks of Plum Creek

**Links: Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3**

I'm still in love with this series. After a book away from Laura and her family, it's so nice to be back with them again.

They have moved to Minnesota in this book. But things are not all well. Their first crop of wheat is destroyed by a plague of grasshoppers. The next year, they can't get a harvest of wheat because the grasshoppers had laid eggs and ruined the soil. Then, the blizzards start. It is a tough time for them. But through it all, they have each other, and that makes everything wonderful.

If only things could be that simple now.

My three year old loves having me read this to her at night, and I love reliving the series.

Farmer Boy

**Links: Book 1 * Book 2**

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this book. It's a good book, but I think what I enjoy about the Little House series is following Laura herself around.

Farmer Boy, while it still fits with Little House, follows Almanzo, Laura's future husband, when he is a little boy on a farm in New York. It's a very engaging book, and shows what it was like for a little boy growing up in the pioneer days.

I read this to my daughter, who doesn't fully understand the story line, but I'm hoping that she will come to enjoy this series just as much as I do.

Little House on the Prairie

**Link: Book 1**

In book 2 of this series, the Ingalls family move to the prairie, specifically Kansas. It is an extreme fresh start for the family. They go with only the barest of belongings, and all of those stored in a covered wagon. Pa has to build a house and a stable, as well as all of the furniture.

There are some exciting parts involving Indians and illness. They have friends who help them out through some of their tougher times.

I loved reading this. I was scared, excited, worried, and happy for them as they ventured into their new adventure. The end made me feel a little sad, but I'm sure it is just the beginning of a new adventure for the family.

It's a great book for your kids (I'm reading it to my daughter).

Little House in the Big Woods

The Little House series was one of my favorite reads when I was a kid. So, I decided to start reading it to my daughter. She's not always the easiest to read to, but she'll quiet down long enough for me to read a chapter of Little House to her.

This is the first book of the Little House series. It's just a sweet book. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her own life as this series. I think that's one of my favorite things about this. It's easy to read, which makes it great for kids that are starting chapter books, and the illustrations help keep the attention of littler kids. Plus, I mean, come on, it helps adults reconnect with those books we loved as kids.

Anyway, in this first book, Laura and her family live in a little log house in the Big Woods (which are in Wisconsin). It takes place over the course of a year - the beginning of winter to the beginning of winter. It's just a great view into what normal life was like for people in that time period. From farming and hunting, to cooking and making clothes, Laura Ingalls Wilder shares it all.

If you've never read this, read it. Read it for yourself, read it for your kids, it doesn't matter.