These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I finished reading These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls recently. They have really enjoyed reading this series together; These Happy Golden Years is the eighth book in the series. The only thing they are disappointed about is that we only have one book left and it is a short one.
In this book Laura Ingalls gets her first teaching job, at the age of fifteen, in a school twelve miles away from home. Since it is winter time she will not be able to live at home while she is teaching. She wants to work to help pay for her sister Mary’s tuition at the college for the blind, but the place she is boarding while teaching is unpleasant and she is very homesick. The time spent in another family’s home makes Laura appreciate her Pa, Ma, and sisters even more. Laura begins to look forward to hearing Almanzo Wilder’s sleigh bells ringing as he arrives to pick her up from school on Fridays and take her home so she can spend time with her family. While Laura was not teaching she was spending time with family and friends, studying, taking singing lessons, and going for rides in Almanzo’s new buggy. It is in this book Laura’s friendship with Almanzo blossoms into love.
I am so excited that the girls have loved this series as much as I did as a kid. It has been a lot of fun reading through these books (and others) with them. They look forward everyday to reading the next chapter. Thankful for some time to spend enjoying the simple things in life with my girls.
Little Town On The Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
A couple weeks ago I finished reading Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls. It is the seventh book in the Little House series. It is hard to believe we are flying through this series and before long we’ll be done. The girls loved these books so much I am already thinking about if I should do another series or something similar next.
Now that the long winter of blizzards is over the Ingalls family is heading back out to the homestead to work the land. Laura got a new job, attended some fun parties in town, and began to spend time with Almanzo Wilder. She continues to study hard for the teacher’s test so she can help Pa and Ma keep Mary in school. Mary is going to college for the blind. Even though Laura is fifteen years old she past the test and receives her teaching certificate early.
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Recently I finished reading The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls. The Long Winter is book sixth book in the Little House series. The girls LOVE reading these books. I try to read at least a chapter to them every night and they always want me to keep on reading! Glad the girls are enjoying this series as much as I did as a little girl. This was probably one of the hardest ones to read because the Ingalls family went through a lot of tough things during this winter season (from near starvation, freezing, and more). The book teaches a lot about being creative with the resources around you, helping others, and working together to get through the rough season.
Laura Ingalls and her family continue their adventures in the town of De Smet, South Dakota. They got their homestead, but didn’t have time to winterize the little shanty before winter so they moved into the town of De Smet to live in the building that Pa had built last year. Thankfully they had a place to stay in town because blizzard after blizzard hit the little town and cut off all the supplies for several months, including anything that was suppose to be arriving on the train. Pa, Ma, Laura, Mary, Carrie, and baby Grace did their best to enjoy each day.
It was a hard winter for the family with low food supplies and the cold from the blizzards. The book introduces many new characters into the series from their interactions with people in town during the winter months. Almanzo Wilder and Cap Garland made a dangerous journey to find wheat so the families in town would not starve. Even though it was a tough season many good friendships were established during these months. The Ingalls family was creative with their cooking, heating the home, and finding ways to stay entertained while they were stuck inside during the blizzards.
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Last week I finished reading On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls. This is the fourth book of the Little House series. In this book Laura and her family start their time in Minnesota on Plum Creek in a little sod house. Later Pa builds a new house with manufactured boards, glass windows and a hinged door.
The wild game at Plum Creek was more scarce because it was a more settled area but they did find plenty of fish in the creek. They were close enough to town that the family could attend church on Sundays and Laura and Mary could go to school. The land was good and the wheat crop looked great until the grasshoppers came which meant Pa had to look for work elsewhere.
It has been a lot of fun reading about Laura’s adventures with the girls. I am reading the same books to the girls that I read as a little girl. They are always eager to have me read the next chapter to them.
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I just finished reading the book Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls. They were a little confused when we first started this book because they expected the next book in the series to be about the little girl Laura and her family, not about a boy named Almanzo. Although they were unsure about it at the beginning it only took a chapter to get them hooked and back into the series.
Farmer Boy is book three of the set we are currently reading through with the girls. The book introduces Almanzo, Laura’s future husband. While Laura growing up in a little house on the prairie with her parents and two sisters Almanzo was living on a big farm in New York State with his parents, one brother, and two sisters.
The book is written from Almanzo perspective and goes through many of the things he did as a boy from chopping wood, cutting ice, planting corn, raising a prize pumpkin, training his steers, and much more! The girls found it fascinating reading about Almanzo’s days. They especially liked that he was found of horses.
If you are looking for a fun book to read to your kids (both boys and girls) or have your children read themselves this is a great book. I know the girls will be going back and reading these books again on their own after we finish with the series. They have really enjoyed this series and learning a little bit about how Almanzo grew up fueled their excitement even more!
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I just finished reading Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls. I have an older version of the book (from when I was a kid), but the story is exactly the same. They have a picture every few pages that the girls enjoyed looking at as we read together. Brina and Karlie really enjoy these books and are always begging me to read…..just one more chapter. 🙂
Little House on the Prairie is the second book in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. We read Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder first. In this book the little girl, Laura, that we met in the first book traveled with her family out Midwest to the Kansas area. Her Pa found a place out in the wide open space of the prairie where they built their new home, barn, started farming, trapping, and explored the area. In this book Laura met Indians for the first time, saw a papoose, and experienced many new adventures.
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I just finished leaving the book Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls. This series was one of my favorites growing up as a kid. The girls loved it so much that they begged to start reading the second book in the series right away.
The book is about a little girl named Laura Ingalls who grew up to write the Little House books. She lived in a snug little log house deep in the woods of Wisconsin in the late 1870s with her Pa, Ma, older sister Mary, and baby sister Carrie.
This is the first book of the series and a great one to read to your kids. We have an older version of the book (from when I was a kid), but the story is exactly the same. They even have a picture every few pages that the girls enjoyed looking at as we read together.
The Real Things Haven’t Changed….
Book Set: Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
As a kid I read The Complete Little House Nine-Book Set by Laura Ingalls Wilder and loved it. While going through our books the other day I came across my old set of Little House books that my parents gave me years ago. The girls are enjoying our time reading together I think before long they may like reading these books as well. I am excited about sharing these books with the girls and hope they love them as much as I did.
