Little House books

[Home Maker]

This makes me want to read them again!

When I was in my mid-twenties, my mother, my sister, her husband, their two children and I drove from Alabama to northern Michigan on a vacation. We took turns reading the books aloud. We enjoyed it so much that we stopped at a mall and bought another in the series so we could keep going. We all have such fond memories of that trip and reading those books.

These books might be of interest:

Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer's Life (South Dakota Biography) (Paperback) by Pamela Smith

Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography and Laura's Album: A Remembrance Scrapbook of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson

I Remember Laura by Stephen W. Hines

Writings to Young Women from Laura Ingalls Wilder - Volumes One and Two: On Life As a Pioneer Woman

 

[mekasmom]

I'm a homeschool Mom. We read them over and over and over.....
I learned so very much from Big Woods and Farmer Boy. Ma made everything. And when they moved Pa built their little house on the prairie out of logs drug from the creek area. It is such a wonderful collection of books.

When the kids were little we even tried to make a cape like baby grace had with the downy feathers around the hat rim.

 

[mekasmom]

I wanted to add, we tried a "button lamp" like the one Ma made in Long Winter. I used vaseline, but she used the axel grease from the wagon.

 

[tamlynn]

I also love these books. I read them as a child and again as an adult. I own them all. It is amazing to think of living with the sole purpose of keeping yourself and your family alive. Everything they did was for survival.

I was thinking though, about the different mindset we have today. In the book where the family moves to Indian territory -sorry, can't remember which title- Pa accidentally builds his house a few miles over the line. After living and working there for a year, he is told by the government he has to leave it all. And he does. He packs up the family the next day and they leave. No lawyers, no law suits, no arguements, he just goes because he knew he made a mistake. How many people today would do that?

 

[Blackbird]

I read the series when I was twelve, Farm Boy was an all time favorite!
I still have the old 70's blue box series too. There was also a different set of series that I have; 'The Days of Laura Ingalls Wilder' its a set of four, but they are fictional, I stopped after the first, they don't compare to the original series at all.

The original 'Plum Creek' site is like a couple hours away, we pass by it going to family sometimes, there a museum and site about it now I guess
http://www.walnutgrove.org/dugout.htm

 

[Henrietta23]

Just got back from a trip to Upstate NY which included a visit to the Almanzo Wilder Farm! I'll post pictures when I've got them upload.

 

[keljonma]

Just got back from a trip to Upstate NY which included a visit to the Almanzo Wilder Farm! I'll post pictures when I've got them upload.

Cool beans! I can't wait to see them!

 

[Henrietta23]

While there was originally quite a bit of land, the place overall was smaller than I imagined. The house is quite modest in size but very lovely. It was strange to think I was walking the actual floors that Almanzo did! There was no photography allowed inside any of the buildings. None of the furnishings were original anyway. It all went with the family when they left NY. I tried to block out our tour guide, who was a lovely older woman who really knew her stuff. I just want to be left with my memories of the book and watch my son as he recognized scenes from it. She spoke very slowly and sometimes had to search for a word which I found a little distracting.

Even the barns seemed smaller than described by Almanzo through Laura. They are not the original barns. Those were destroyed at some point, most likely by lightening. They had archaeologists come and find the area where the barns had been. They found them to be within a foot of the description Almanzo gave to his daughter Rose. 50 years after he'd left the farm!

It was a nice little museum but the sentimentality of how special the book was to me as a child, and of sharing it with my son, really made the trip worthwhile. We drove more than an hour from our campground in Lake Placid to get there and were within spitting distance of Canada once there. It was cold and we saw a couple of maple leaves that had already turned colors.
I think the weirdest thing was watching people who'd never read the book go through. They looked a little confused!

 

[big brown horse]

WOW!! How AWESOME!!!!

 

[keljonma]

While there was originally quite a bit of land, the place overall was smaller than I imagined. The house is quite modest in size but very lovely. It was strange to think I was walking the actual floors that Almanzo did! There was no photography allowed inside any of the buildings. None of the furnishings were original anyway. It all went with the family when they left NY. I tried to block out our tour guide, who was a lovely older woman who really knew her stuff. I just want to be left with my memories of the book and watch my son as he recognized scenes from it. She spoke very slowly and sometimes had to search for a word which I found a little distracting.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/kalugamama/AlmanzoWilderFarm1.jpg

Even the barns seemed smaller than described by Almanzo through Laura. They are not the original barns. Those were destroyed at some point, most likely by lightening. They had archaeologists come and find the area where the barns had been. They found them to be within a foot of the description Almanzo gave to his daughter Rose. 50 years after he'd left the farm!

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/kalugamama/AlmanzoWilderFarm3.jpg

It was a nice little museum but the sentimentality of how special the book was to me as a child, and of sharing it with my son, really made the trip worthwhile. We drove more than an hour from our campground in Lake Placid to get there and were within spitting distance of Canada once there. It was cold and we saw a couple of maple leaves that had already turned colors.
I think the weirdest thing was watching people who'd never read the book go through. They looked a little confused!

Thanks for sharing, H23! Great pictures.