Laura Ingalls Wilder

A family travels from the big woods of Wisconsin to a new home on the prairie, where they build a house, meet neighboring Indians, build a well, and fight a prairie fire.

Little House on the Prairie

Little Town on the Prairie (Little House)

Christine

wait okay so it literally took me until this year to realize how big the age gap was between laura & almanzo

like

I'M THE SAME AGE AS LAURA IN THIS BOOK

W H A T

Revisit one of the most beloved books in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s classic Little House series with this gorgeous hardcover, unjacketed edition of Little House on the Prairie, featuring new, iconic cover art, no interior art, and a special foreword. When Laura Ingalls and her family leave their little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, they head west for the open prairie skies of Kansas Territory. They travel for many days in their covered wagon until they find the perfect spot for Pa to build them a new home. Soon they are planting and plowing, hunting wild ducks and turkeys, and gathering grass for their cows. But just when they begin to feel settled, they are caught in the middle of a dangerous conflict. Based on the real-life adventures of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie is the third book in the award-winning Little House series, which has captivated generations of readers with its depiction of life on the American frontier.

Laura Mauler

I came from people just like the Ingalls, farmers all the way back on both sides, and I loved imagining myself as part of that vanished pioneer world as I read this book, and all the books in the Little House series.

Nicole Sonja

What a strange side to the Indian story. The more one learns about history the less one actually knows.

I love this book! It’s so cute and we get to see a much more mature Laura. It’s also incredibly funny. I definitely don’t like Eliza Jane in this book, but I love Almanzo! I wonder why he liked her so much...

Celeste Richardson

This is the book that truly started the Little House fandom. While it’s not the first in the series, it’s the book that launched the show that captured the heart of a generation. And continues to enchant viewers and encourage new readers over 40 years after the first episode aired. 

That first episode, the pilot, follows the eponymous book almost exactly. Every event in the book takes place in that first episode. Since I saw the show first, reading this book felt like revisiting old friends, and having them retell a story I already knew but with details I had missed. Once again, the prose was simple and the story was less about the plot than the details. And that works just fine for a story like this. I loved seeing the Ingalls build a new life for themselves on the prairie, and I can’t even imagine having to leave everything I had build to start again somewhere unknown.

I read so much as a child, but I still managed to miss so many books. Maybe that’s why I still love children’s fiction. I never really grew up, and I can revert back to that place of childlike joy and wonder when I read something new and wonderful. I reverted while reading this book, and the book before it. Hopefully the rest of the series will appeal to me in the same way.

This installment was much more fun than the last. There were no crazy blizzards that resulted in near starvation and a level of cold that sinks into your bones and seems like it will stay there forever. In this book we see the Ingalls family experiencing more prosperity than ever before in the series. While their preparations for winter are much more thorough, they find themselves enjoying a mild winter almost completely free of the blizzards that plagued them the year before. The family has plenty to eat, plenty of fuel for their stove and hearth, and plenty of new and exciting entertainments when they move back into town for the winter. 

Laura is now a young lady, and is getting closer and closer to becoming a teacher so that she can help support Mary, who leaves for college in this book. Laura develops friendships and starts to grow into herself, attracting the attention of her future husband. I enjoyed getting more details of life in town, from the birthday parties to the Literary meetings, from the current fashions to the autograph books and name cards that become so popular. Laura experiences so many tremendous changes in this book, but we are shown that even greater changes will be coming in the next installment. 

I can’t believe I’m nearing the end of Laura’s story. Only two books left in the series!

Pa's homestead thrives, Laura gets her first job in town, blackbirds eat the corn and oats crops, Mary goes to college, and Laura gets into trouble at school, but becomes a certified school teacher.

Little town on the prairie

Noah Warner

What can I say about these books that I haven’t already… these are so fun, and besides a couple very poorly aged scenes, I just adored this book, just like with the rest of the series

not as heartwarming and charming as the first book, but still full of fun. I'm really enjoying this series!

kezzie

Donald

Read this to my daughter before bedtime. Had to do a little improvisation for the minstrel show chapter (don't want to censor the history, but she's only 4 and I can't have her saying "darkies" on the playground), but this was fantastic. What could be more interesting? A town emerging from nothing, strangers coming together to create a culture together, the trials and rewards of homesteading.

Also nice how Christian these books are, and they're Christian in a matter-of-fact way. It's just part of the fabric of life.

Meredith Rose

So I accidentally read the second Little House book before the first because I thought the series was named after the first book in the series. Nevertheless, I don't feel like reading the first two books out of order ruined my experience with this series. It's been so special getting to reread these books because I only remember parts of them when my mom read them to me as a child. They are very charming and simple. I mean this in the best way possible: they put me to sleep. It's like watching a Bob Ross episode; they just make you slow down and appreciate the simple things in life. I can't wait to read them with my children.

Little House on the Prairie

Reviews

Highlights