This first assignment proves difficult for her. Laura must board with the Brewsters in their two-room claim shanty, sleeping on their sofa. The Brewsters are an unhappy family, and Laura is deeply uncomfortable observing husband and wife quarrel. In one particularly unsettling incident, she wakes in the night to see Mrs. Brewster standing over her husband with a knife. It is a bitterly cold winter, and neither the claim shanty nor the school house can be heated adequately. The children she is teaching, some of whom are older than she is herself, test her skills as a teacher. Laura grows more self-assured, and she successfully completes the two-month term. [44] Spaeth, Janet. Laura Ingalls Wilder. New York: Twayne, 1987. A critical biography with useful interpretations of the works. A part of the Twayne United States Authors series. Dorothy Smith (Distributed by Franklin County Historical and Museum Society, 1972), The Wilder Family Story, 36 pp., illustrated, OCLC 4431788 It is fall, and the snug Ingalls home bursts with harvest foods, colorfully cataloged. The themes of family safety and self-reliance emerge as central to this book and to the whole series. Complete but easy-to-understand descriptions of building a smokehouse and slaughtering a pig make it clear that even children knew the basics of preparation for winter. This recitation of essential frontier knowledge became one of the most valuable and interesting aspects of Wilder’s contribution to later understanding of pioneer life.

a b Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1932). Little House in the Big Woods. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-440003-4. Carin T. Ford (Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2003), Laura Ingalls Wilder: Real-life Pioneer of the Little House books, People to know, ISBN 076602105X, 112 pp., illustrated, OCLC 51060229 Stories about Laura's daughter Rose Wilder Lane, written by her executor, heir, and "political disciple" Roger Lea MacBride: [13] [14] [15] Megan Stine (Milwaukee: G. Stevens Publ., 1992), Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder: Pioneer Girl, Famous lives, ISBN 0836814762, 104 pp., illus. Marcy Dunn Ramsey, OCLC 34076227 Miller, John E. (May 1998). Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Woman Behind the Legend. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-8262-1167-5.When the family reaches Indian Territory, they meet Mr. Edwards, who is extremely polite to Ma, but tells Laura and Mary that he is "a wildcat from Tennessee." Mr. Edwards is an excellent neighbor, and helps the Ingalls family in every way he can, beginning with helping Pa build their house. Pa builds a roof and a floor for the house and digs a well with assistance from another neighbor, Mr. Scott, and the family is finally settled. Laura Ingalls Wilder's Prairie Wisdom: with Bookmark (Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publ., 2006), 78 pp., compiled by Yvonne Pope – "quotations taken from L.I. Wilder's newspaper articles and essays", OCLC 70659487 Anita Clair Fellman (U. of Missouri, 2008), Little House, Long Shadow: Laura Ingalls Wilder's Impact on American Culture, ISBN 0826266339, 360 pp., Google Books

Garson, Eugenia and Haufrecht, Herbert. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Songbook: Favorite Songs from the Little House Books. New York: HarperCollins Children's Books. 1996. ISBN 0-06-027036-5 Four-year-old Laura Ingalls Wilder lives with her Ma, Pa and sisters, Mary & Carrie, in a little house in the big woods of Wisconsin in 1871. While Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote the Little House books, it was Rose Wilder Lane who edited them and it was Lane who had the rights after Wilder's death. According to the New York Times Rose was an "outspoken antigovernment polemicist and is called one of the grandmothers of the libertarian movement." [5] Lane's views were supported by her mother. [6] Despite her mother's support of her political views, Lane went against her mother and what was written in her will by leaving the rights of the Little House books to Roger Lea MacBride after her own death. [6] Roger Lea MacBride has strong connections to politics, being a once libertarian presidential candidate, and a member of the Republican Liberty Caucus. [5] He gained the rights to the books not only from Lane's will but also through a legal battle with the library that Wilder wrote in her will should gain the rights after Lane's death. [5] It was MacBride who allowed the television show to be made and who talked about Laura's books, and through the rights he made a great deal of money. [5]Two volumes of Wilder's letters and diaries have also been issued under the Little House imprint: On The Way Home and West From Home, published by HarperCollins in 1962 and 1974 respectively. [27] [28] Janet and Geoff Benge (Lynnwood, WA: Emerald Books, 2005), Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Storybook Life, ISBN 1932096329, 196 pp. – secondary (senior high) school, OCLC 61130747 Judy Alter (Chanhassen, MN: Child's World, 2004), Laura Ingalls Wilder: Pioneer and Author, Our people, ISBN 1592960073, 32 pp., illustrated, OCLC 51886244

Winter Tales (1994) (My First Little House Collection: contains Winter Days in the Big Woods, Christmas in the Big Woods, and Dance at Grandpa's) For generations, librarians, parents, and teachers have recommended the Little House books as wholesome fare for young readers. Many readers still admire the virtues exemplified in these books: hard work, honesty, generosity, adaptability, endurance, resourcefulness, and humor. The family travels to Dakota Territory by train. This is the children's first train trip and they are excited by the novelty of this new mode of transportation that allows them to travel in one hour the distance it would take a horse and wagon an entire day to cover. [36] Pam Walker (NY: Children's Press, 2001), Laura Ingalls Wilder, Real people, ISBN 0516234358, 24 pp., illustrated, OCLC 46314461 The Long Winter, published in 1940 and sixth in the series, covers the shortest time span of the novels, only an eight-month period. The winter of 1880–1881 was a notably severe winter in history, sometimes known as "The Snow Winter." [37] [38] [39]Bird, Elizabeth (July 7, 2012). "Top 100 Chapter Book Poll Results". A Fuse #8 Production. Blog. School Library Journal (blog.schoollibraryjournal.com). Archived from the original on July 13, 2012 . Retrieved August 22, 2012. Anderson, William. Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Iowa Story. Burr Oak, Iowa. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum. 2001. ISBN 0-9610088-9-X Wolf, Virginia. "Symbolic Center: Little House in the Big Woods." Children's Literature in Education 13 (Autumn 1982): 107-114. This insightful critical approach discusses Wilder's use of polarities. The Little House on the Prairie books comprise a series of American children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder (b. Laura Elizabeth Ingalls). The stories are based on her childhood and adolescence in the American Midwest ( Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Missouri) between 1870 and 1894. [1] Eight of the novels were completed by Wilder, and published by Harper & Brothers in the 1930s and 1940s, during her lifetime. The name "Little House" appears in the first and third novels in the series, while the third is identically titled Little House on the Prairie. The second novel, meanwhile, was about her husband's childhood.

A Little House Christmas: Holiday Stories from the Little House Books (Harper, 1994), Ingalls Wilder, illus. Garth Williams

The Horn Book's Laura Ingalls Wilder: articles about and by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Garth Williams, and the Little House Books (Boston: Horn Book, 1987), edited by Anderson, 48 pp., LCCN 87-181392 Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs.” Thus begins the first of nine books based on the frontier existence of the Ingalls family, fixing the time at 1873 and introducing the main character of the series. The simplicity of presentation fixes Laura’s perspective as the lens for the story, and all facets of the tale remain true to a child’s point of view. Wilder’s use of capital letters heightens Laura’s wonder at her surroundings. French doors which open up to bring the outdoors indoors and bring in a beautiful light and birdsong. A two person cocoon hangs from the giant oak tree which is topped with cushions and blankets - perfect for appreciating the tranquility of The Little House. Amenities A Little House Christmas: Holiday Stories from the Little House Books, Volume II (Harper, 1997), Ingalls Wilder, illus. Garth Williams – from the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 8th Little House novels, OCLC 37810194 The First Four Years derives its title from a promise Laura made to Almanzo when they became engaged. Laura did not want to be a farm wife, but she consented to try farming for three years. Their daughter Rose is born, then a son who dies at a few weeks old. Wheat crops fail, and Almanzo becomes partially paralyzed as a result of diphtheria. At the end of that time, Laura and Almanzo mutually agree to continue for one more year, a "year of grace", in Laura's words. That summer a fire destroys their house. The book ends at the close of that fourth year, on a rather optimistic note. Laura compares a farmer's hope for success year to year to her father's lifelong hope for a better life farther west. In reality, the continually hot, dry Dakota summers, and overwhelming debt eventually drove them from their land, but they later founded a very successful fruit and dairy farm in Missouri, where they lived comfortably until their respective deaths. [45] Additional books from the author [ edit ]