Such a good series! I grew up reading this! I loved learning about the days back then and what they called things! It was so cool to me that this was real and they were all alive!

For every birthday or Christmas I would receive a new edition of The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. My sister also would receive one for her birthday and Christmas, so for a period of several years, we'd have four new Little House on the Prairie books to read. I remember I couldn't wait for my birthday or my sister's birthday or Christmas so that I could continue reading these.

As a child with a vivid imagination and a lot of empathy, I learned to care about those who settled out in the prairies. I learned a lot about what the Wilder families life was like out there. I remember I thought Pa was the nicest man on earth. And I liked reading about Laura's dad and how he was a good family man (provider, protector, and nurturer) and they had a close relationship. I remember I wasn't a big fan of her sister, Mary, although I felt terrible when she went blind.

As an adult now reading these, I know that they are true for Wilder and her perspective, but there's another side to every story. Yet, I still appreciate Wilders books a lot. They provided me with a lot of background, improved my vocabulary, and helped me better understand the history of settlers at that time. They also instilled in me an excitement for receiving books as gifts. For that I am forever grateful.

OK, so I'm a little generous with the whole Little House series. Sue me. But for me, as a child, they WERE "amazing," and here's why.

When I was in first grade in a tiny, tiny town in Arkansas, and hating school with the heat of a thousand suns, each member of the class was given identical packages at Christmas time. They were books. I'd been reading for a long time already, so loved a new book...but disappointment set in as my classmates who got their books first opened them before I had a chance to open mine, and they were all the same: A beginner children's book called "The Big Snow." (I think) It was about a kid getting dressed to go out into the snow. On one page, he put on his pants. On the next page, his boots, and so on and so on, FOR AN ENTIRE BOOK. I wanted to cry.

And then when I opened MY book, it was  Little House in the Big Woods. Then I DID cry, because it was a REAL book, and somebody "got" me, and knew I was different, and it was OK.


I loved the series as a kid, and after reading each book, would spend lots of time imagining that I had brought Laura from her time to mine, and what it would be like to show her things like cars and telephones and televisions--she'd be AMAZED! And she'd think I was so COOL!

Yup. I just reviewed a book as a 7-year-old. You're welcome.

Individual reviews were left on each book's page.

Really a 4 or 4.5 if actually based on merit but I cannot separate my estimation of this series without including the nostalgia of loving these as some of my first chapter books as a child, and as an introduction to history- probably my favorite subject ever. I really needed a comfort read in the past few weeks and these delivered.

From my blog: http://rosesandvellum.blogspot.com/

When I was a little girl, my father used to read me these books. It has been a really long time since then and I can hardly remember most of the stories from the book, but I still remember the sense of excitement and adventure in these books. Laura and her family were pioneers, and as a young girl she met each move with a sense of adventure and openness to the world. I also loved that the girl was called Laura like me.

These stories are a true testament to the amazing spirit of the pioneers. They kept moving on, dealing with the problems of their life, never losing hope. The parents always did their best to make this world pleasant for their children, and to make times like Christmas magic. Trips to town were a treat when the girls would get a lolly each. They had very little, but completely appreciated what they did have, something which a lot of us have forgotten in our modern consumer driven society. I don't long for those times, because the life was hard and not everyone made it as Laura's family did, but I love the simplicity and teamwork of their little lives. It reminds us to appreciate what we do have. And anyway, they were just such amazing adventures!

I think this series is must read material! It's also great for parents to read with their children, creating wonderful memories like the ones I have.

Years later I loved the show and I bought this boxed set. But for me, although I thought I should love them, these books were always just okay. I wasn't enamored of the writing style, and while I enjoyed some of the interactions between the sisters, I didn't really like most of the characters all that much, and I didn't envy the family life portrayed.

I used to listen to these books as my mother read them. My mother got them as a child they kept their gifts in the attic inside their pillow case. My mother snuck up into the attic every night to read her books she had not received yet. She loved them and still reads them to her children to this day.
The books themselves are well put together have pencil drawing and explain a lot about the early american heading south. Laura is wonderful at describing the suroundings as she moves through the states. Her sister became blind and she described the world to her. Her sister became independent and went to a school for the blind. She was even able to ride horses to her home on her own. Even after Laura grew up she tells her life all the way through until the point that she got a treasure. Paper! Her daughter also grew on her mothers passion for writing and started writing books also of her childhood.
I was able to go too a museum of Lauras life was spent. We did activities like making butter... I was able to learn the skills of the early settelers and make things like maple syrup. I think that every child should get a chance to learn from Laura

I was obsessed with these books in elementary school. I read them all again as an adult and it is so amazing and interesting to read about the daily struggles of the Pioneers. I think The Long Winter was especially a hard time for the Ingalls family. Amazing they survived much of their adventures. I remember my Mom told me she thought Pa was a jerk for dragging his family across the country like that! That never occurred to me but I always love an adventure!

After a couple of days immersed in this series for the first time in I don't know how many years, I'm left bemused in a lot of ways.

From a historical standpoint, there's little else out there for kids that is this rich and complete. The everyday details that make up a pioneer life are lovingly dwelt upon in a way that's just far enough removed that even the littlest reader doesn't panic. After all, if they all starved to death in The Long Winter, there wouldn't be a next book, would there?

From a modern, perhaps revisionist standpoint, I was uncomfortable with the hate that boiled out of Ma every time she talked about Indians. I didn't like the way Pa treated his family, the way he got the most potatoes, the way he dragged them from pillar to post on a whim. So many of the things I didn't like were cultural and I feel as if I haven't any right to not like them, if that makes any sense. It's the way things were then, and ought to be presented as such. Those who don't remember their history and all that.

I dig the messages about self-sufficiency, I found the descriptions of how to craft houses and furniture and food out of prairie sod and a few cottonwood trees to be fascinating and useful.

But I don't much like the Ingalls family. I haven't a thing in common with any of them, I don't think. I'm walking away for the last time with some fond memories, and that's enough.

Words cannot express how much I love these beautiful books. Not only are they fun, easy to read books with a historical fiction aspect, but they have a great personal connection to me. My dad would read these to us children--my brother and I perched on either arm of "the big black chair" (his leather recliner) and my baby sister on his lap. He read us the whole series, one chapter or two at a time, every night. I'll never forget the my Dad reading us the lyrics to the songs...What a wonderful tradition.

this was a christmas gift from a man in my childhood life that i dont have very good memories from. But!this was one and the few good things i ever recieved from him, and i read all of them,and amazingly still remember alot about, and i wrapped myself up in these books to disappear into these girls lives that were very simple times, and i remember thinking just how much the were loved by their daddy, and it made me long for my own real father to swoop out of nowhere and love me like this dad loved these girls. on a lighter note... ill never forget them blowing up pig bellies and using them as balls to play games with. lol!!! i was like eeeeewwwwwww!!!!!