![]() Front dust jacket with Sewell's illustration | |
Author | Laura Ingalls Wilder |
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Illustrator | Helen Sewell [1] Garth Williams (1953) [2] |
Series | Little House |
Genre | Children's novel Family saga Western |
Set in | Montgomery County, Kansas, 1869–70 |
Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
Publication date | September 19, 1935 [3] |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Pages | 200; [1] 334 pp. [2] |
OCLC | 18319291 |
LC Class | PZ7.W6461 Lit 1971 [1] |
Preceded by | Farmer Boy |
Followed by | On the Banks of Plum Creek |
Little House on the Prairie is an autobiographical children's novel by Laura Ingalls Wilder, published in 1935. [4] It was the third novel published in the Little House series, continuing the story of the first, Little House in the Big Woods (1932), but not related to the second. Thus, it is sometimes called the second one in the series, or the second volume of "the Laura Years". [3] [lower-alpha 1]
The novel is about the months the Ingalls family spent on the prairie in Montgomery County, Kansas. Laura describes how her father built their one-room log house in Indian Territory, having heard that the government planned to open the territory to white settlers soon.
In contrast to Little House in the Big Woods, the Ingallses face difficulty and danger in this book. They all fall ill from malaria, [5] which was ascribed to breathing the night air or eating watermelon. American Indians are a common sight for them, as their house was built in Osage territory, and Ma's open distrust of Indians contrasts with Laura's more childlike observations about those who live and ride nearby. They begin to congregate at the nearby river bottoms and their war cries unnerve the settlers, who worry they may be attacked, but an Osage chief who was friendly with Pa is able to avert the hostilities.
By the end of the novel, all the family's work is undone when word comes that U.S. soldiers are being sent to remove white settlers from Indian Territory. Pa decides to move his family away before they can be forced to leave.
The Ingalls family moved from Wisconsin to Kansas in 1868 (stopping for a while in Rothville, Missouri), and lived there between 1869 and 1870. Carrie was born there in August, and a few weeks after her birth, they were forced to leave the territory (however, in the novel, she is present during the move to Kansas). They moved back to Wisconsin, where they lived the next four years. In 1874 they started for Walnut Grove, Minnesota, stopping for a while in Lake City.
Although Wilder states that Charles had been told that the Kansas territory would soon be up for settlement, their homestead was on the Osage Indian reservation and Charles' information was incorrect. The Ingallses had no legal right to occupy their homestead, and once informed of their error, left the territory despite the fact that they had only just begun farming it. Several of their neighbors stayed and fought the decision. [6]
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.
Virginia Kirkus had handled Wilder's debut novel Little House in the Big Woods for Harper & Brothers as its book editor from 1926 to 1932. In Kirkus Reviews , her semimonthly bulletin from 1933, she awarded this novel a starred review (as she did the next three sequels). "Good Americana – and a first rate tale. Personally, I liked it certainly as well, perhaps better than the other." [3]
In 2012, the novel was ranked number 27 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal – the second of three Little House books in the Top 100. [7]
In modern day terms,
De Smet is a city in and the county seat of Kingsbury County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 1,056 at the 2020 census.
The Little House on the Prairie books comprise a series of American children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The stories are based on her childhood and adolescence in the American Midwest between 1870 and 1894. Eight of the novels were completed by Wilder, and published by Harper & Brothers in the 1930s and 1940s, during her lifetime. The name "Little House" appears in the first and third novels in the series, while the third is identically titled Little House on the Prairie. The second novel, meanwhile, was about her husband's childhood.
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American writer. The Little House on the Prairie series of children's books, published between 1932 and 1943, were based on her childhood in a settler and pioneer family.
Almanzo James Wilder was the husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the father of Rose Wilder Lane, both noted authors.
Caroline Lake Ingalls (; née Quiner (later Holbrook); December 12, 1839 – April 20, 1924) was an American schoolteacher who was the mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House books. She is depicted as the character "Ma" in the books and the television series.
Charles Phillip Ingalls was an American pioneer, farmer, government official, musician, and carpenter who was the father of Laura Ingalls Wilder, known for her Little House series of books. He is depicted as the character "Pa" in the books and the television series.
Nellie Oleson is a fictional character in the Little House series of autobiographical children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She was portrayed by Alison Arngrim in the NBC television show Little House on the Prairie, where her role is much expanded. Three different girls from Laura Ingalls Wilder's childhood — Nellie Owens, Genevieve Masters and Stella Gilbert — were the basis for the fictional Nellie Oleson.
The Long Winter is an autobiographical children's novel written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published in 1940, the sixth of nine books in her Little House series. It is set in southeastern Dakota Territory during the severe winter of 1880–1881, when she turned 14 years old.
The First Four Years is an autobiographical novel by Laura Ingalls Wilder, published in 1971 and commonly considered the last of nine books in the Little House series. The series had initially concluded at eight children's novels following Wilder to mature age and her marriage with Almanzo Wilder.
Little House in the Big Woods is an autobiographical children's novel written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published by Harper in 1932. It was Wilder's first book published and it inaugurated her Little House series. It is based on memories of her early childhood in the Big Woods near Pepin, Wisconsin, in the early 1870s.
On the Banks of Plum Creek is an autobiographical children's novel written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published in 1937, the fourth of nine books in her Little House series. It is based on a few years of her childhood when the Ingalls family lived at Plum Creek near Walnut Grove, Minnesota, during the 1870s. The original dust jacket proclaimed, "The true story of an American pioneer family by the author of Little House in the Big Woods".
By the Shores of Silver Lake is an autobiographical children's novel written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published in 1939, the fifth of nine books in her Little House series. It spans just over one year, beginning when she is 12 years old and her family moves from Plum Creek, Minnesota to what will become De Smet, South Dakota.
Little Town on the Prairie is an autobiographical children's novel written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published in 1941, the seventh of nine books in her Little House series. It is set in De Smet, South Dakota. It opens in the spring after the Long Winter and ends as Laura becomes a school teacher so she can help her sister, Mary, stay at a school for the blind in Vinton, Iowa. It tells the story of 15-year-old Laura's first paid job outside of home and her last term of schooling. At the end of the novel, she receives a teacher's certificate and is employed to teach at the Brewster settlement, 12 miles (19 km) away.
These Happy Golden Years is an autobiographical children's novel written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published in 1943, the eighth of nine books in her Little House series – although it originally ended it. It is based on her later adolescence near De Smet, South Dakota, featuring her short time as a teacher, beginning at age 15, and her courtship with Almanzo Wilder. It spans the time period from 1882 to 1885, when they marry.
Farmer Boy is a children's historical novel written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published in 1933. It was the second-published one in the Little House series but it is not related to the first, which that of the third directly continues. Thus the later Little House on the Prairie is sometimes called the second one in the series, or the second volume of "the Laura Years".
Let the Hurricane Roar, reissued as Young Pioneers starting from 1976, is a short novel by Rose Wilder Lane that incorporates elements of the childhood of her mother Laura Ingalls Wilder. It was published in The Saturday Evening Post as a serial in 1932 and by Longmans as a book early in 1933, not long after Little House in the Big Woods (1932), the first volume of her mother's Little House series.
Mr. Edwards is a character that appeared in the Little House series of autobiographical children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. His character was later adapted for the NBC television show, Little House on the Prairie and given the name "Isaiah Edwards."
Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder is a documentary film about the life of American author Laura Ingalls Wilder. She is best known for her Little House on the Prairie book series.