Little House on the Prairie (novel)

Last updated
Little House on the Prairie
LHbookCover.jpg
Front dust jacket with Sewell's illustration
Author Laura Ingalls Wilder
Illustrator Helen Sewell [1]
Garth Williams (1953) [2]
CountryUnited States
Series Little House
GenreChildren's novel
Family saga
Western
Set in Montgomery County, Kansas, 1869–70
Publisher Harper & Brothers
Publication date
September 19, 1935 [3]
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages200; [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]

Contents

Plot summary

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.

Historical background

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.

Reception

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]

Locations

USA Kansas location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of the "Little House on the Prairie" in Kansas

In modern day terms,

Notes

  1. One 5-volume set, Little House: The Laura Years (January 1994) comprises volumes 1 and 3–6. [lower-alpha 2] Thus it features the Ingalls family until Laura is 14 years old, at the close of the "Long Winter" early in 1881.
      The second novel, Farmer Boy (1933) features Laura's husband Almanzo Wilder as a boy. He appears in the sixth novel and their courtship begins in the seventh.
  2. "Little House the Laura Years Boxed Set: The Early Years Collection": Paperback – Box set, 1994. Amazon product page. Retrieved 2015-09-17.

Related Research Articles

<i>Little House on the Prairie</i> American series of childrens books (1932–1971) and media franchise

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Ingalls Wilder</span> American writer, teacher, and journalist (1867–1957)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Almanzo Wilder</span> Husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Almanzo James Wilder was the husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the father of Rose Wilder Lane, both noted authors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Ingalls</span> American schoolteacher (1839–1924

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Ingalls</span> Father of Laura Ingalls Wilder

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.

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie is a 2005 American western television miniseries directed by David L. Cunningham. It is a six-part adaptation of children's novels Little House in the Big Woods (1932) and Little House on the Prairie (1935) by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It was broadcast on ABC as part of The Wonderful World of Disney anthology 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.

<i>The Long Winter</i> (novel) 1940 childrens novel by Laura Ingalls Wilder

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.

<i>Little House in the Big Woods</i> Childrens Novel

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.

<i>On the Banks of Plum Creek</i> Laura Ingalls Wilder book published 1937

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".

<i>By the Shores of Silver Lake</i>

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.

<i>Little Town on the Prairie</i>

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.

<i>These Happy Golden Years</i>

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.

<i>Farmer Boy</i> Childrens historical novel by Laura Ingalls Wilder

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".

<i>Young Pioneers</i> (novel) Novel by Rose Wilder Lane

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.

William Anderson is an American author, historian, and lecturer. He is a specialist in the subject of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her times.

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."

<i>Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder</i> 2015 American film

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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Little House on the Prairie" (first edition). Library of Congress Online Catalog (catalog.loc.gov). Retrieved 2015-09-17.
  2. 1 2 "Little House on the Prairie"; Newly illustrated, uniform ed. LC Online Catalog. Retrieved 2015-09-17.
  3. 1 2 3 "Little House on the Prairie" (starred review). Kirkus Reviews. September 1, 1935. Retrieved 2015-10-02. Online the review header shows a recent front cover, "volume 2" and "illustrated by Garth Williams".
  4. Little House on the Prairie Google Books
  5. History of Malaria Archived August 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Kaye, Frances W. (2000). "Little Squatter on the Osage Diminished Reserve: Reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's Kansas Indians". Great Plains Quarterly. 20 (2): 123–140.
  7. Bird, Elizabeth (July 7, 2012). "Top 100 Chapter Book Poll Results". A Fuse #8 Production. Blog. School Library Journal (blog.schoollibraryjournal.com). Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
  8. Little House on the Prairie Museum (archive)