Reviews (54)

Still great after all these years!
I loved this book as a little kid and had the pleasure of reading this to my third grade class. They absolutely loved it! Wilder makes her characters come to life in a way that few authors are able to do. She created a mental picture of every detail of little Almanzo Wilder's daily life that you felt like you knew him. My students couldn't get enough of it and some have started to read the rest of the series.

Although references to Native Americans seem outdated (we live on a reservation) this book is still relevant for today's modern child and I will continue to recommend it to readers young and old alike.

Great book!
This is the 3rd book in the original Little House Series.

It tells the story of Almanzo Wilder, a little boy who would grow up to be Laura Ingalls' husband.
Read all about how this industrious family had to keep a full-fledged farm running, no matter what. Yet they still manage to have loads of fun, especially when their parents leave for a week! From making candy to snowball fights to going sledding to finding a wallet with several hundred dollars inside, this book will keep you on your toes!

Reviews (31)

4th is a good as the rest
This 4th book continues the story of Laura Ingalls and her family. They have just moved to Plum Creek in Minnesota to set up a new life after being driven from Indian Territory.
They are only a few miles from a town, so her parents decide that now, they can go to school. Then the trouble starts. Nellie Oleson is a spoiled, selfish brat who always gets her own way. She has everything she could ever want because her father owns the general store and her family is considered very rich in the town. She trys to make life very miserable for Laura and succeeds most of the time.
Then a disaster hits. A grasshopper cloud comes and wipes out their entire wheat crop. They've just built a new house, and the wheat crop was to pay for it.
Pa decides to walk back East and work there to get the money they desperately need.
But there a happy times as well in this book. The girls get to see their first Christmas tree and each of them gets a wonderful present from it. Plus they recieve a special surprise when they get home!
This book continues the legacy of the Little House books in a very interesting way.

Little Laura Ingalls





Laura Ingalls didn't know that her life would become a collection of wonderful stories then, but now almost everyone knows about Laura and what an exciting life she had. One of Laura's books is about when she lived on the banks of Plum Creek. On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, is an exciting tale of when Laura moves from the prairie to Plum Creek. This book, which was first published in 1937, has been reviewed by ALA Booklist and received a Newbery Honor. Laura Ingalls Wilder has written eight other Little House books, one of which has also received a Newbery Honor.
On the Banks of Plum Creek picks up from everyone's favorite, Little House on the Prairie. Laura and her family are moving out of Indian Territory to a dugout on Plum Creek. Pa promises that the wheat crop will bring a new house and everything they ever dreamed of. In order to plow the field Laura and her sister, Mary, give up their Christmas presents and wish for horses instead. Throughout the story Laura finds her self in the most wonderful and terrible situations. The worst of all is when the sky rains grasshoppers and they eat all the wheat! Even though the house is already built they need to pay the store keeper for the wood. Now that all the wheat is gone, however will they pull it off?
Could you imagine having an ox step right through your roof? Exciting things happened to Laura and her family every day. That's what kept me interested in what I was reading. Whether it was Laura falling into the creek or waiting out a four day blizzard. Laura had almost every adventure you could think of, all on the banks of Plum Creek.
I know that just about everyone knows someone that everyone thinks is better than them. In Laura's case it was her older sister, Mary. Mary seldomly gets punished throughout the whole book. Laura is always doing something that leads to trouble. This can get boring, especially when the book states that Mary was doing this or that just like a "good little girl".
On the Banks of Plum Creek is a wonderful story full of joy and excitement. I think this is a favorable book because it is easy to connect to how Laura felt throughout the whole story. I know that many people can connect to moving or their first day of school. That is why I recommend this book to kids and pre-teens.

Reviews (17)

The journey finally ends
The days of moving from place to place are finally over for the Ingalls family.
After going through a very hard time on Plum Creek, good news comes in the form of Aunt Docia, who hasn't seen them since they left the Big Woods. She's married now, and her husband works for the railroad in the Dakota Territory. He's in desperate need of help, so Pa decides to leave the Plum Creek area and move west with the railroad.
After they've moved west, they have the job of setting up their new home in the wilderness all by themselves. The last workmen have moved out and they are all alone. Or so they think. One man remained behind and he and his new wife become the family's closest friends.
Little by little, new people start arriving and making their own homes. Pa has to act fast if he's to claim the homestead he'd picked out!

Maggie's Review
The main character is Laura.Her family is travel from Minnesota to South Dakota.Laura's older sister, Mary, is blind from scarlet fever.Jack, their dog, died from old age.One day Aunt Dakota came and told Pa about a job.Pa was going back with Aunt Dakota.Then Ma and the girls would come on the train.They wouldn't travel with him because Mary is blind.They got to Silver Lake and stayed in a shanty.They decided to stay for the winter.The surveyors said they could stay in their house.Everybody was leaving. Everybody was coming back.Is Pa going get their claim?I really like this book and recommend it to all readers.

Reviews (32)

Little House Books
This is good for the skilled early readers like me. I started
reading Little House Books at age 7. My first Little house book
was Little House in the Big Woods. I have almost all the books
in the Laura Series. The books that I have from Little House are
good for 7 and up kids that will like them will be age 8-11 well
alot in that age group. Early readers 6 and up. I highly recomend!

How Boring!!
This was one of the most BORING books I have ever read!!
My teacher made me read this book in class and I almost fell asleep reading!

It might have been interesting to live in these days, but it realy isn't interesting to read about them!

Editorial Review

Although the Little House stories are traditionally seen as "girl" books, boys might be happily surprised if they take another peek at their sisters' shelves. Little House in the Big Woods--the first book of the series and Laura Ingalls Wilder's first children's book--is full of the thrills, chills, and spills typically associated with "boy" books. Any boy or girl who has fantasized about running off to live in the woods will find ample information in these pages to manage a Wisconsin snowstorm, a panther attack, or a wild sled ride with a pig as an uninvited guest. Every chapter divulges fascinatingly intricate, yet easy-to-read, details about pioneer life in the Midwest in the late 1800s, from bear-meat curing to maple-tree sapping to homemade bullet making.

Reviews (60)

zzzzzzz....
I hated this book when I was little, and having re-read it as an adult, I hate it even more.While it is a children's book, I think that Wilder's painfully simple prose would put any fourth grader to sleep.Reading the unendingly dull chapters about Pa building the house, the door, the fireplace and the well made me want to burn the log cabin down.And I still can't believe that Ma ironed on the wagon in the middle of the prairie.(wtf?)If you want to read a true children's classic I recommend The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Winnie-the-Pooh, The Secret Garden or Charlotte's Web. I only recommend reading Wilder's books to your children when they can't fall asleep.

It's pretty good!
This second book tells how the Ingalls family moves from the Big Woods to Indian Territory.

I got a real sense of adventure reading about crossing the rivers, almost losing Jack, building literally everything by hand without too much help, getting the fever and finally leading up to the part where the Indians rally to get rid of them and every other settler in the region.
The ending is a little sad because Pa decided that, instead of being forced out, they would just pack what they could and leave everything for a new life somewhere else.
The courage and determination is seen in this book and it's a 5-star!

Reviews (15)

I was wrong - THIS book is the best Little House book!
(...) But this next book, Little Town on the Prairie, is outstanding.The Ingalls have a short winter this year and everything seems to go right.But like we all know, even though we are warm and fed, problems just seem to come along.Now that Laura is 14 and 15 years old, she learns to care about and appreciate other people besides just her immediate family.She likes Ida, Cap, Mary Power and Minnie.She goes to a fancy birthday party for a boy named Frank.We see that she is becoming a beautiful young lady and she starts describing clothes and hairstyles in detail.
She even buys the latest thing - name cards. And when she sees Almonzo,she says "I was just picking up my name cards".MY name cards.Like she was so totally in fashion forever.She is very smart and can do long division in her head.There are many fun social occasions in this book and some exciting power struggles with the teacher, Eliza Jane(Almonzo's sister), Nellie Oleson, etc.This is absolutely the most enjoyable book in the series.But I said that last time.Next will be "These Happy Golden Years".It can't be better than this one, but I've just got to see what happens!I can't close without again mentioning how much you learn in this book.This book teaches social history.You learn how to operate a corsett, hoop skirt, and what a lunatic fringe is, and how to curl your hair without a curling iron.You find out what to do when plagued by blackbirds and gophers, what to do when you're "home alone", and how to behave at your first paying job.This book is the beginning of the end of the little Ingalls family.Mary goes away to college, and soon Laura will become a teacher.We all have to face it sooner or later, our children will grow up.See how an ideal family handles it, with grace and love.

Loved it!
I have to admit that I never really cared to much about this series. I read all of them though (except for the last two) for lack of things better, and, out of all of them,this is the only one I really liked. I have no idea why! I just loved it! Totally reccomended!

Reviews (39)

A book about your favirote Prairy Girl in Love
Laura Ingalls is finally abel to teach school.She teaches in a school 12 miles from home.Its her first joband she findsd heself in ahouse with a women who broods all day and was to go east.12 miles is to far to drive so she thinks she can'tt go home on the weekends.Just as school is letting out on friday who should appear but Almanzo Wilder to take her home.Almanzo risks his life so could he be in love with her?
Follow thier steps asAlmanzo Wilder courts Laura.

These Happy Goleden Years Pass So Quickly



Have you ever wanted to read a book that you just couldn't put down until it was finished? These Happy Golden Years was written by Laura Ingalls Wilder in 1943. It is a true and factual story about succeeding goals and never giving up. These Happy Golden Years was an ALA Booklist and Newberry Honor nominee. Laura Ingalls Wilder has also written many other books like Christmas in the Big Woods and County Fair. Mrs. Wilder has lived all of these experiences when she was young and enjoyed every minute of them.
In These Happy Golden Years, Laura starts teaching a small school of six. Almonzo Wilder, a young and friendly neighbor asks Laura's father if he may pick up Laura every Friday from her teaching job. Her father agrees, and Almonzo sticks to his suggestion until school is done. One Friday when Almonzo drops her off at her house, Laura finds a surprise. Laura's older sister Mary is home from College for the week. When Laura's teaching job comes to an end, Almonzo comes over every Sunday to take her on a drive. Once, he came with new horses he had to train. He had sold his old ones. On July fourth, Almonzo picks her up and they drive into town to see the fireworks. During the middle of the fireworks, they have to leave because his new horses won't stand still.
I was very impressed with Laura and her personality. In one scene, Laura's father stated, "Laura, you can manage anything. You never give up." He is right. For example, she got her first teaching job, and her students were giving her some major problems. Instead of giving up, she worked with them, and talked it over with them. Her pupils grew fond of her. On another occasion, she got a sewing job. She kept that complicated job until she earned enough money for her sister Mary to come home from College again, that summer.
I thought that it was so sweet how Laura always brought out the best in people. One Sunday when Almonzo came to pick Laura up for a Sunday drive, he had picked up Nelly Olsen also. Laura despised Nelly Olsen. They had gone to school together and had Sunday school together. Laura thought that she could make the best of it. Nelly Olsen always talked a lot. So Laura thought that she was just a good conservationist.
I recommend this book for young adults and adults. This charming classic touched my heart in every way when I first read it. These Happy Golden Years is so descriptive, I felt like I was there! The little illustrations, on the first page, were cute. Sometimes I didn't know what it was until I finished the chapter!

Laura Grows Up
If you look at Laura's life before and after this book, you will see that the title is perfect.Her life before this was always a struggle, never having enough, never being satified.
It was the same way after this book.Sure, things were good many times.There were happy moments and happy times.But never in her history before or after were things so consistently good.Pa and the family are totally successful:no locusts, no droughts, no long winters. Their wealth steadily increases.Thanks to Laura's teaching job, they can afford the blind college for Mary.Laura can buy fancy dresses and hats, She is a beautiful teenager and many boys are asking her out for a buggy ride. She will only go with Almonzo, and they have many pleasant times together.Finally at the end of the book she is married at age 18.This book teaches things like the other books in the series.This time we learn the manners of dating and how a young woman is to act both in her career and in her relationship.Laura doesn't always follow the "rules" but we learn what they are.And Mary asks an interesting question of Laura when she finds she will be married:Why do you want to go live with that Wilder boy?It's a question for us all.Why do we want to get married?There are a million answers and we all have our own.Laura gives only one answer.
It doesn't really answer Mary's question and yet I believe the engaged can relate to it.

In learning about the Amish I find their life is similar:a long boring childhood filled with lots of work, married life that is even more work and always a struggle, and in between, These Happy Golden Years where a person reaches young adulthood
and spends a good deal of time socializing and meeting friends and having many happy times.

Reviews (27)

Yadira (B.P, US)
The four first years was the best book I had read from Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote, thats what I think. I loved that book.It was kind of hard in the begining to understand it but at the end it was great.Well, it was boring in the biginning and at the end there were the interesting parts.Especially when Laura and her man Almanzo gets married.Then years later they had a baby girl.But at first Laura didnt wanted to married Almanzo.Then at the end of the story their house gets burned.
Thats why I tink kids of age 10 should read this book.Eventhough its kind of hard to read it and understand it. As I said I didnt understand it at the beginning it was kind of hard also some of the words were hard to understand them.
The only part that I didnt like was when Laura told him that she wasnt sure if she wants to married him.Because es a farmer and she doesnt want to be married to a farmer because they dont get enough money and that shes not going to have a good life with him.But I tink that is she really loves him she doesnt have to be worried about the money or having a good life.The only thing that its important its the love that she has for him.I hope that everyone could enjoy reading this book like I did.

Last But Not Least
All of Laura's books have taken me on a wild adventure, and the last book is no exception.This is the last of Laura's stories but the beginning of Rose's.Almanzo or Manly and Laura have just gooten married.Manly says that they should try the farm life for four years and in the end they'll be happy.This is an amazing book that tells of the start of the Wilder's life together and all the excitement that goes with it.I would highly recommend this glorious story to everyone, especially those who loved the first ones.

Reviews (14)

Cool!
This Is Another Little House Book Based On The Adventures Of Rose,Laura,and Almanzo!I Only Gave This Book 4 Stars Instead Of 5 Because It Is A Good Bit Confusing To Me.I Wish It Wasn`t.But Anyway,This Is Definately A Book Worth Reading And Buying,Especcialy If You`re A Little House Or Laura Ingalls Wilder Fan!

Must Read for Little House Fans
It is so wonderful to find out what happens (without having to read a biography) after the original series ends.Both my daughter and I read and reread the original series, but we were a bit frustrated with The First Four Years.Although that story needed to be told as part of the series, the events that take place during The First Four Years are not as uplifting and fun to read about.I believe Laura Ingalls Wilder's tone in writing that book was quite different than the previous books of the series, likely because the painful events were not as much fun to write about.But my daughter and I were both overjoyed to read this book, and we feel it is much more the same tone as the happier books of the original series.And learning more about the beginning of Rose's life (again, in non-biographical format) was really special.