Before the Prairie, there was still a Little House (Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder)

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Product:	Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Date:	17/04/07 (179 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: historically accurate, enaging, full of excitement

Disadvantages: many assume it is a girl's book, but it is exciting for both sexes

These days, if someone mentions "Little House", the vast majority of the public will hearken back either with delight or dismay to the 1970's family TV series "Little House on the Prairie". and think they know all there is to know without having to read any of the books. These people could not be so wrong! While the series was indeed inspired by the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, they are not true to the books, and actually lack a great deal of the action and locations in the series of books. And while the TV series was perhaps overly sentimental in true '70's style, the books can not be accused of that. Many things are stated matter of act, related as the author remembers from her childhood perspective, but nontheless, the grittiness of reality is there.

Little House in the Big Woods is the first in the series of Little House books. In this book, it is the 1870's, and Laura is a small girl at this time, about 4 years old or so. Her family are living in the wilds of Wisconsin at this point in time. They live in a cabin in a heavily forested area, hence "Little House in the Big Woods".
We learn about what it is to be a feisty young child with a "perfect" older sister, and the hard work that had to be done. There is also plenty of excitement, with panther attacks as one example.

This book does not have much of a plot as such. It is instead, a series of vignettes in Laura's life at that point, which is hardly surprising giving her age at the time and the fact that this is autobiographical; if pressed, most of us could only remember certain events of our lives at the same age. This does not detract at all however, and the vignettes serve well in painting a picture of childhood on the American frontier. Children are also given much to think about, as Laura and her sister Mary have a lot of chores to do to help their family survive, and the children see a trip to town as an amazing adventure, where Laura gets her very first piece of candy. This may seem a trivial event to today's children, but Laura saw it as something so wonderful and beautiful, that she wrapped it carefully up "to keep always." This sort of attenton to the seeming trivialities of daily life paint a stark contrast to the everyday life of modern children, and I found as a youngster that it struck a chord within me. I began to see just how easy we have it these days, and became a bit more appreciative.

I first read this book at age 8, and reread it at least once a year well into my teeens. My original copy is now being devoured by my 5 1/2 year old daughter. this book is suitable for any child who is reading short chapter books and that has an excellent vocabulary, though the reading level guide says it is for ages 9 and above. prior to my daughter reading it, I gave it a reread to see if there would be any difficulties in it for her, and Ihave to say quite honestly that this book i an interesting but easy read for an adult as well. Nor are the stories particularly girly. the main character is Laura, and she is female, but this book is not about growing up as a female. Rather this book is about childhood in the wilds of Wisconsin, and it happens to be centred on a little girl. I make this distinction as it is all too readily put aside as a book for girls, but it would be a shame if boys were left out of the excitement as well. My husband tells me he read the books as a boy, and found them interesting as well, just to weigh in on the male opinion.

As this book is part of a series, I will note that the vignette style of this book is not repeated in later books. The following books have a developed plot line and the characters are more rounded, gaining depth as the years flow past and Laura and her sisters grow up. This is as one would expect, but if you buy this as part of a box set, and your child reads them one after the other, they may miss some of the nuances that come with the maturity. I would therefore reccommend that younger readers space the books at least 6 months apart before reading the next one.

I do reccommend buying the books rather than checking them out from the library, as it is quite likely to be a book that gets reread and reread and reread. You can get this book with the original charming Garth Williams illustrations for as little as £3.62 from Amazon, or buy as part of a boxset from the same site for £20.67.

Summary: 4 year old Laura Ingalls grows up in the Wisconsin wilds.