What a lovely and interesting read. I found out so much more about Laura and her life, especially after “The Little House Books”, that I hadn't know before! Like, where she and her husband Almanzo lived for the last part of their lives, and the work that they did to build up their dream farm, Rocky Ridge. It was also interesting to learn about the work Laura did in her community and the articles she wrote for newspapers and magazines! I knew a little about her life after leaving Dakota as I have read “The Rose Years” by Roger Lee McBride, which is all about Laura and Almanzo’s daughter, but I didn't know as much as I thought.

I thought it was really cool to find out that Laura and Almanzo actually bought a car later in their life and did lots of road trips across America, visiting the old places Laura used to live to re-visit her old memories. Would highly recommend!

*Feel free to check out this review over on my Substack blog:
https://thepaintedcaravan.substack.co...

Isabella Ann of The Painted Caravan

The "Little House on the Prairie" series has been a favorite of mine since childhood. I was surprised that I had not read a biography on Laura Ingalls Wilder before this point. What I did learn in reading the biography was that the series really did chronical her younger years. However, at some point I would like to read another biography to make sure that is truly the case. What I enjoyed most about this book was reading about Laura's life after the book series ended. It was interesting to read about her relationship with her daughter, Rose, and her life with Almanzo. I would have loved to learn more about her daughter and her life. Overall, an interesting read.

I loved the Little House books so much, and it was a joy to read about Laura. :)

Very engaging biography on one of the greatest children’s writers of all time.

Simply written but a lovely story about Laura and her life.

A well written telling of Laura's life with some interesting tidbits of info i never knew before.

A WONDERFUL telling of the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. It is fascinating to think about all the history she has lived--from a cabin in the Big Woods and a covered wagon to riding in a Chrysler automobile! I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the Little House books or is interested in pioneer history.

I bought this book for only $7 at the museum in Mansfield, Missouri after I got to see Laura's Rocky Ridge Farm. My copy has also been autographed by the author William Anderson. (If you are a big Little House fan, I highly recommend making this trip [or going to her other sites such as De Smet and Walnut Grove] and buying your books from the gift shop to support these museums.) I thoroughly enjoyed reading this informative book. The writing style is presented in a way so that both young readers (elementary-aged) and adults can clearly understand this time period. Some people may not like this more dry writing style but I appreciated the author making this book accessible for all of Laura's fans.

While I am an avid Little House reader, I still learned new information. I particularly enjoyed reading about how Laura wrote the Little House books and how much it affected her life. I have read the Little House series countless times, and while most of the books are accurate, Laura did change the order of her time in Wisconsin and Kansas. She also changed many of the names and left out details about the hardships she endured. For example, The First Four Years shows some of these tragedies but I never really comprehended how poor Laura and Almanzo were in their early years of marriage in De Smet. When Laura traded eggs in town they only gave her 5 cents a dozen. They had to mortgage their house for $500. Just when they thought they were going to get out of debt with a crop worth $3,000, hail came and everything was destroyed. This poor couple went through every trial you can imagine trying to start a farm. They finally had more success and a happier life in Mansfield.

I highly recommend starting out with this biography versus all of the other ones out there. This one covers her entire life and does so in just 232 pages. This makes it much more manageable as the book can be read in just one or two sittings. I would definitely start out with this biography first before trying to undertake reading Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography. Instead read the Little House series and then this biography to see the right chronological order and find out specific details about her later life in Missouri.

A bit soft to the true story

I didn’t learn much new about Laura really, but I did learn more about the other people in her life. It really inspired me to re read and re watch Little House.

I don’t know if I’m giving this book 5 stars or Laura herself 5 stars but I suspect it’s the latter. I’ll never forgive the American Library Association for canceling her in 2018. Shameful.