The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Wow, the series ends with more boringness and - spoiler alert- complete desperation and failure. I know these books are mostly autobiographical but you know what would have been a better story? When the Native American man invited her to come be his “squaw” if she’d said, “Well, nothing could possibly be worse than this!” And taken off with him. Now that would have been an interesting adventure!

At least it was a mercifully short book.

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These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Starts off well, like most of the other books. Though she's still going to school, Laura has work-related adventures as a teacher and begins to grow up. Mary is progressing at college and all of this is great.

Then Pa spends all her teaching money, IN ADVANCE, on a musical organ. Yuck.

Then page after unromantic page about boring Almanzo Wilder and his dangerous unbroken horse.

The ending is particularly bad, and I almost imagine her at the end, sitting outside her cabin, realization dawning in her eyes that she's made a terrible mistake.

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Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This covers about two years. Mary goes off to college which is a really exciting. The family moves to the town for the winter and they have tons of social events.

Laura is maybe 14 at the beginning of the book, and 15 at the end, and she has so much drama at school and at church and with boys. There's a really one-dimensional character Nellie. She's still more interested in playing than in boys.

There's one racist scene that makes this unideal as a kid's book or for reading out loud.

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The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Despite the adorable cover, this is the one where the Ingalls family almost all starves to death.

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By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Things have not been going well since the second novel when the Ingalls family got malaria or the third novel where their new wheat farm was ravaged by a grasshopper plague. This book opens with the Ingalls family recovering from Scarlet Fever. So the solution is to move back West again! Seriously, this is the third move and each place has resulted in worse and worse conditions. Really what was wrong with that first place in The Big Woods? It looks pretty good in retrospect. Even their dog Jack is getting tired of this nonsense.

Oh, and Mary is blind now. She didn't make a full recovery from the Scarlet Fever. Laura isn't too worried about it. I get that Laura is only about 12 years old, but a little sympathy here?

Anyway, this time Pa works for a train company, forces his family to run an impromptu bed and breakfast, and seeks to claim a homestead near a wolf den where his daughters Laura and Carrie almost get eaten. Nonetheless, he neglects to watch his baby Grace when outdoors. Can’t wait to see what horrors await the family in the next book! There are some suggestions that child marriage might be next.

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On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Starts off well, as the family moves into what is essentially a hobbit house, but unbelievably they don't like this and spend a bunch of money they don't have to buy wood for a new house on credit. Terrible plan, Pa!

Leeches, grasshoppers, and little children bullies galore. Not my favorite one.

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Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is crazy to read as an adult. It's largely about the white settlers breaking treaties with the Native Americans and expanding Westward into their territory. Of course, I missed the importance of all this when I read it as a kid obviously. It's definitely worth an adult-reread. The father moves the family from Wisconsin to future Kansas over treacherous terrain and then builds a new house from scratch, including all the furniture. Unfortunately, he builds the house basically on top of a Native American trail so they proceed to have a lot of interesting interactions with numerous different tribes.

I'd give it 5 stars now, but I'm sticking with my childhood rating of 4. (I kept a reading journal as a kid. Are you surprised?)

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Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Takes place in the semi-wilderness of 1870s in Wisconsin, US. Takes us through a year in the life of a middle sister age 4 (celebrates her 5th birthday during the book). There are at least 4 stories just about bears in this book.

I think I like this book even better as an adult. It's like a survival guide for the zombie apocalypse or a pandemic.

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