Table Of Content

She suggests that Pa and Ma move west to the rapidly developing Dakota Territory, where Pa could work in Uncle Henry's railroad camp. Ma and Pa agree, since it will allow Pa to look for a homestead while he works. The family has endured many hardships on Plum Creek and Pa especially is anxious for a new start. After selling his land and farm to neighbors, Pa goes ahead with the wagon and team. Mary is still too weak to travel so the rest of the family follows later by train.
The Rose Years – Laura’s daughter
She appears in her first book, The Secret of the Old Clock, written by Mildred Wirt Benson under the pseudonym of Carolyn Keene. Laura and Almanzo move into the Rock House, a home Rose designed and built for their retirement. Soldiers from the Seventh Cavalry Regiment leave over 200 Lakota men, women, and children dead as tension over the Ghost Dance movement gives way to violence.
‘Little House on the Prairie’ and the Truth About the American West
Laura attends school with her younger sister, Carrie until the weather becomes too severe to permit them to walk to and from the school building. Blizzard after blizzard sweeps through the town over the next few months. The frequent blizzards prevent supply trains from getting through, and food and fuel become scarce and expensive. Eventually, the railroad company suspends all efforts to dig out the trains, leaving the town stranded.
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The books have become cultural touchstones, touching upon topics of environmentalism, feminism, and racial diversity. While many of the Ingalls family members are portrayed as stereotypical Midwesterners, the books also address difficult questions about the complicated history of race relations in the American West. Additionally, the books explore themes of gender roles, women’s rights, and animal rights. The stories that make up ‘Little House on the Prairie’ cover several years of the Ingalls family’s life, beginning with their move from Wisconsin to Kansas and then onto Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), Minnesota, and finally, South Dakota. Along the way, the family is faced with hardships like blizzards, crop failures, and illness, but they also find joy in their new lives in the west.
These are the books that started it all – the stories that captured the hearts and imaginations of children and young adults worldwide. Written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published by HarperCollins, these beloved books remain a favorite to this day. These classics have sold over 73 million copies in more than 100 countries. The 90th anniversary of the first publication of the Little House on the Prairie novel in 1935 is marked in 2025. Born in 1867 in Pepin, Wisconsin, Wilder spent most of her life living on the prairies of the Midwest.
The Little House Books (boxed set)
“Little House on the Prairie”, the television pilot, introduces the Ingalls family to millions of viewers around the world. Harriet the Spy, written and illustrated by Louise Fitzhugh, is published. The Little House books are reissued with new illustrations by Garth Williams.
What to Read

In winter, there is wood to be chopped and great slabs of ice to be cut from the river and stored. Time for fun comes when the jolly tin peddler visits, or best of all, when the fair comes to town. In addition to being widely read, ‘Little House on the Prairie’ has been adapted for television and the stage. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s classic novel ‘Little House on the Prairie’ tells the story of the Ingalls family’s journey across America and their eventual settlement in Missouri. However, the book is just one of many related works that explore similar themes and ideas.
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The National Parks Service has even created a website dedicated to providing information about the sites mentioned in the books. A long time ago, when all the grandfathers and grandmothers of today were little boys and little girls or very small babies, or perhaps not even born, Pa and Ma and Mary and Laura and Baby Carrie left their little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin. As they were preparing to leave, the Ingallses received word from Wisconsin that the man who purchased their farm near Pepin had defaulted on the mortgage. Since they had to leave Kansas, they decided to go back to Wisconsin and moved back to the farm they had left two years earlier. So instead of heading to Minnesota as the series relates, they headed to Wisconsin and lived there again for a few years before heading west to Minnesota.
Little Town on the Prairie
Several book series and some single novels by other writers have been published for children, young adults and adult readers. One story not written by Wilder is Old Town in the Green Groves by Cynthia Rylant. The classic book series ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published in the 1930s and 1940s, has had a lasting impact on readers, both young and old.
The books provide a window into a long-gone era and convey important messages about the human experience that still resonate today. From its themes of resilience and perseverance to its exploration of the human spirit, it is clear why this series has remained such a beloved classic for generations. The story begins when the family is about to leave Plum Creek, shortly after the family has recovered from the scarlet fever which caused Mary to become blind. The family welcomes a visit from Aunt Docia, whom they had not seen for several years.
The award honors an American author or illustrator who has made lasting and significant contributions to children’s literature. While visiting Rose in San Francisco, Laura publishes her first work for children, a series of short poems in The San Francisco Bulletin. Caroline and the girls arrive by train in Dakota Territory; Charles works for the Chicago and North Western Railway.
The book begins just before Wilder's ninth birthday and follows at least two harvest cycles. Set around 1866, it describes in detail the endless chores involved in running the Wilder family farm and Almanzo's part in it. The novel includes stories of Almanzo's brother Royal and his sisters, Eliza Jane and Alice. The original title of the first of the books was When Grandma Was a Little Girl.[36] On the advice of Lane's publisher, she greatly expanded the story. As a result of Lane's publishing connections as a successful writer and after editing by her, Harper & Brothers published Wilder's book in 1932 as Little House in the Big Woods.
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Laura's hard work comes to an end when she is let go, and the family begins planning to raise cash crops to pay for Mary's college. After the crops are destroyed by blackbirds, Pa sells a calf to earn the balance of the money needed. While Ma and Pa escort Mary to the college, Laura, Carrie, and Grace are left alone for a week. In order to stave off the loneliness stemming from Mary's departure, Laura, Carrie, and Grace do the fall cleaning. They have several problems, but the house is sparkling when they are done.
Soon Pa builds a wonderful new little house with real glass windows and a hinged door. Laura and her sister Mary go to school, help with the chores, and fish in the creek. Misfortunes come in the form of a grasshopper plague and a terrible blizzard, but the pioneer family works hard together to overcome these troubles. Pioneer life is sometimes hard since the family must grow or catch all their food as they get ready for the cold winter. But it is also exciting as Laura and her folks celebrate Christmas with homemade toys and treats, do the spring planting, bring in the harvest, and make their first trip to town.
She begins teaching at the Bouchie school (called “the Brewster school” in These Happy Golden Years) and she boards with the Bouchies while Almanzo Wilder drives her home on weekends. The Ingalls family, along with hundreds of other farmers, loses its wheat crop year after year. Below is the scrollable timeline, which allows you to view groupings of important dates related to the life and legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Below is the interactive timeline, which allows you to view relevant photography and videos alongside historical events. Western historians, even those who aspire to register as high achievers in the defiance of myth, have found their plans rearranged by the enduring Wilder legacy.
An exceptionally long, hard winter shuts down the railroad, cutting off supplies of food and fuel to towns throughout Dakota Territory. A champion of America’s great writers and timeless works, Library of America guides readers in finding and exploring the exceptional writing that reflects the nation’s history and culture. This series features Laura’s mother Caroline as a little girl, up through when she meets and marries Charles Ingalls, taking readers up to where Little House in the Big Woods begins. Laura Ingall’s story begins in 1871 in a little log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin.