Very sweet. Somewhat methodical and instructional -- it's interesting to learn exactly how to keep a farm running in the prairie and all the skills required. The neatly described survivalist and domestic skills reminded me of My Side Of The Mountain. This book is lacking in a narrative.

Read with Jack. He gives it 5 stars

I once tried to make a list of my most influential books - it was this and a couple flower guides, I believe. Cornbread, anyone?

So I'm currently working my way through the Little House series. I read a few of these as a child and watched a little of the TV Show. There has been quite a bit of controversy surrounding these books as the award (Laura Ingalls Wilder Award) was removed by the ALA and changed to the Children's Literature Legacy Award. For my own personal reasons, I wanted to go back and read this series as an adult and truly understand the intricacy of the controversy surrounding it. For that reason, I will be reviewing these titles, but leaving them unrated.

Before I begin this review, I want to point out that these stories are stories of their time. Some of the content gives readers insight to what it was like for families such as Laura's to live and survive during the 1800s and some of the content is harmful. As a librarian, it is against my personal code of ethics to tell people not to read a book. However, I try to encourage all readers to read these stories and use it as an opportunity to discuss why the content is harmful to certain groups. I also encourage readers to try stories that give a scope of this time period without all of the problematic content and come from marginalized voices that are often underrepresented.

Little House in the Big Woods is interesting in the fact that it doesn't really have much of a plot. Readers simply follow Laura and her family through day to day activities or special holidays. Nevertheless, it does set the stage for understanding the ins and outs of settler life. The way in which they caught animals for food, interacted with others, celebrated holidays, and more will prove to be interesting for children reading this from a 21st century perspective. In the same regard, there are parts of the text that warrant discussion and illustrate the casual racism that existed in the 19th century. One that stood out to me that I had to read over and over occurred during a song that Pa sang to Laura and her sister. The lyrics included the term "darkey" which is a clear reference to a Black person. As a Black person, it is never a thought in my mind to excuse racial slurs and even at 31 and reading this in 2022, I was extremely uncomfortable. I couldn't imagine reading this to my daughter (at a young age) and having to have a conversation about why people thought it was remotely appropriate to use such a term and in such a casual situation. It; however, was the norm for Laura and her family. There is no conversation about the inhabitation of land that technically did not belong to the Ingalls family or any other settlers which unfortunately, for me, was expected. As with a lot of these older books, the idea or consideration for Native/Indigenous communities never seems to exist.

I understand that many people hold this book and the rest of the series dear to their hearts because it was such a huge part of their childhood; however, I think that it is just as important to point out what behaviors and language are no longer appropriate, but are clearly woven into the pages of these stories. That doesn't mean that there aren't lessons to be taken from this or that it doesn't provide a historical picture of life in the 19th century; however, I think it is detrimental to ignore the harmful content and not use it as a means for open dialogue. There were parts of the story that I did find interesting, but I think that reading this as a BIPOC woman made the experience a little different. Stories have a way of making people feel seen and also unseen. So while this may be such a fond memory for many, I can only question the level of discomfort and pain that it causes others. Does this mean that we cancel these books? Absolutely not. However, I think that openly engaging with this text without true discernment of it's harmful content doesn't do good either.

Overall, I can see why these stories would be appealing to children. The adventure and suspense of life out in the wilderness would seem fun to many. I will be continuing the series, but with caution and keen awareness to some of the content that often goes unaddressed.

I grew up on Laura and her loving, pioneer family. In fact, this is one of the series that flipped the switch for me as a lifelong reader. The summer before my fifth grade year, I sat inside reading first this series and then began the Nancy Drew series (much to the consternation of my mother, I might add). I did, after all, grow up in the era when kids ran around outside from dawn until dusk without the over-scheduling eyes of a parent hovering inches away.

That's why when I introduced Little House in the Big Woods to my at risk students, it was not without a little trepidation. Would they connect to her? Would they love her as much as I did? Would her story of a time so long ago resonate with them?

I needn't have worried. My kids opened their arms and enveloped the Ingalls family as if they were one of them. They laughed when pa and his brothers unwittingly grabbed a wild pig on a sled, gasped in horror at the danger that was always within an arm's reach but so expertly kept at bay by Pa's steadiness, and scratched their heads at such simple, yet arguably one most work intensive time periods in our history. When at last the book was closed for good, many of my students began their campaign for the second book in the series to be read.

Thank you, Laura Ingalls Wilder, for your eternal stories of long ago that still ring true for us 140 years later. Now THAT is a book.

*Reread 10-24-2015
My students are looking for good historical fiction...

A good friend and I are doing a reread of the whole Little House series this summer. I first read this book in 3rd grade, and it's a much quicker read as an adult. Being from the midwest, when I read that the town they traveled to is Pepin, Wisconsin on Lake Pepin I get a little thrill because I've been to Lake Pepin many, many times. Life was so much simpler yet harder then, it's a great peak into how things used to be.

This is the first book I can remember my mother reading to me as a small child.
When I was growing up I read the entire series over and over. We visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home in Missouri. I have a LIW charm on my childhood charm bracelet. These books loomed large in our house during my formative years.
I'm not sure what, but recently something prompted me to find a copy to re-read as an adult.
There was much trepidation.
But it holds up. It definitely holds up.

It was fine. I feel like I would’ve enjoyed it when I was younger

I read this book multiple times as a child, I loved it then. While rereading it I came across passages that were still vivid in my brain even decades later because of the imagery it conjured for me as a kid. So I still did enjoy it, but it is very obviously geared towards children. Which is fine, just harder for me to be interested in as an adult. It is also based on her life (so, autobiographical to an extent) and therefore doesn't have much of a plot which was the main issue I had upon rereading.