don’t ask me to take an ar test on this one boys

Readers need to keep in mind that what this book is is Laura's first time writing down the events as they happened through her adult perspective. This is the process she started with for all the Little House books. She wrote down what happened, and then she, with her daughter, Rose, turned what she wrote into a story, and then edited it to be appropriate to children. Yes, this book has a lot of tragedy in it. But so do the earlier books. Her mother lost a baby, a son named after his father. The family nearly starved to death in The Long, Long Winter. Laura's father nearly died as well. Go back and re-read that book, and pay close attention to all the horrid things that happened.

In Little House, they struggled so hard to get their crops planted, and were met with a great deal of misfortune. They had to leave it when they found out that the land wasn't open to settlement yet. Do you really think Charles was so cavalier when telling the family that they were going to have to leave? Do you think he was really so calm and cool and collected when reporting that a friend managed to have their lives spared from an Indian-attack (using the book's term) that would have resulted in their deaths?

All of the books have a lot of difficult things in them. Children dying. Threat of rape or sexual assault. Hunger. Near-death. More actual death. What Laura and Rose managed to do was to use the English language to create a sort of dance that obscured the harshness of these realities without entirely erasing them from history. It's easy to overlook how many absolutely horrible things happened when the words used to tell them are like a soothing melody. We got the gist of it without the pain. If these were adult books, we would be turned off by the emotions being minimized. But since these were written for children, the full brunt of the emotional trauma would have been too much.

For a bonus, re-read Farmer Boy, and notice how much time she spends describing the Wilder family's food. It's nearly food-porn! She describes all the delicious fruits and jellies and treats in such detail that it's hard to not become hungry. Also re-read her description of their pantry in Big Woods, before the Ingalls family headed west and struggled. So much food, an abundance of food!
At her grandparents' party, we learn how they made maple candy, and more about food. Compare that to her family's often-plain foods that were fairly glossed over. They had a lot of cornbread, plain white bread, potatoes, and baked beans. It wasn't unusual for dinner to be just a pot of boiled beans seasoned with only salt. You start to realize that she spend much of her childhood without enough to eat, without much variety even when her tummy got more than its fill. You start to realize that food was left out because there wasn't much to talk about because there just plain wasn't much. They lived in poverty. That's a harsh reality just as much as the crop devastation or Laura's miscarriage or Manly's illness in The First Four Years. It was just made more palatable with brilliant use of the English language.

We are privileged to have been given these first-hand, unedited memories. That's really what they are. They're her raw memories as she first wrote them down. And as such, they shouldn't be expected to have the same playful word-choices as the others. I give this book five stars for this privilege. What an absolute treat to get to read her direct, unedited words. They mean as much to me as seeing the remains if a sliver of soap she had used right before she died, and the beds she and Manly had, and to walk through her home. These things, and this book, are the real, unconcealed Laura, and we are lucky to have received them all.

The last in the Little House on the Prairie series we listened to through the previous eight books, though I listened o this on my own. It's a different tone, an adult story, after the transition for Laura from pioneer girl to pioneer wife. I had read many of them while growing up with my sisters (as we watched the Michael Landon series, too), but not this one, as it was published after Laura and ever daughter Rose had died.

It's much shorter than the others in the series, too, 4 years in 190 pages, and it focuses more on challenges than triumphs. There's a recap from book eight of the wedding and Laura's seeing the house (that handmade pantry!) for the first time. As with the other books, there is a kind of ethnographic feel to it, and this one captures farming practices, the weather. They have horses, and they get sheep, they fend off fires and epic storms and illness and back-breakingly long hours of work. Laura bears two children, strengthened by one of the hymns Pa used to sing. There's one death they have to face as well.

Most people think of the first eight books as the series, as that focuses on Laura as a girl with Ma and Pa, but I thought this was a fine conclusion. I maybe think of it as three stars, somewhat less than the previous books because it feels less personal, less dialogue, less relationship focus, but if you have read all of it as I have, you are glad for this one last look at Laura.

The last book written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published long after her death.

The introduction tells us that this is a rough draft published as it was written by Laura in yellow notebooks. This is a more poignant period of Laura's life that tells of the tragedies and joys she and Almanzo faced during their first years of marriage.

Reading this again as an adult gave me a much clearer picture of how difficult life was in the late 19th century and how isolated many families in the west were.

As the Introduction tells us, Laura Ingalls Wilder left a first draft to this book and it was only published after her death. In many ways, it reads like a first draft: it has the feeling of a rough outline of events. It is more developed than diary shorthand, but not as crafted as most of the "Little House" stories. I remember reading it as a child, and then again as a young woman; what I didn't quite remember is how sadness it contains. This book is about, as the title implies, the first four years of Laura and Almanzo's life together. I'm glad that the Introduction reminded me that they both lived into their 90s, because I wouldn't have guessed that from these dramatic, tragedy-filled years. The major takeaway of this book is that farming is a hard and often heartbreaking way to make a living. Every time it seems like Laura and Almanzo might finally get ahead, and whittle down their debts, some horrendous act of nature spoils a year's work. There is drought, hail, windstorms, blizzards and other bad luck. The loss of a child, diptheria, and a tragic fire are also on the tragic tally. Against all this, there is not much good news - other than the birth of their daughter Rose. Almanzo asks Laura for three years - in order to prove that farming in South Dakota can be a viable way to make a living - and they drag it out for seven before finally abandoning their homestead and trying their luck in Missouri.

I wouldn't recommend this for a sensitive reader or anyone under the age of 12. It's definitely worthwhile if you are fascinated by LIW's story, but it is emotionally harrowing in its way - not sweet and idyllic as its book cover implies.

i feel bad giving this 3 stars without an explanation when the rest of the series got 4 or 5 stars

I've been working my way throught the entire Little House series on audiobook for the past few months, and I have really enjoyed it. It was interesting to hear how the writing and narration changed as Laura grew older and her life grew more complicated.
At first I didn't think I would like this one. As it started, the tone seemed completely different from the first eight books, (why are they calling Almanzo "Manly?!?" and what's this about Laura not wanting to be a farmer's wife?!?!) but as I learned more about how the book was published and why the tone is different, I grew to appreciate it as a fitting ending to a wonderful series. I'm glad I revisited Mrs. Wilder's edited and probably somewhat idealized stories about herself as she grew up, and finished with a more adult, realistic account of her daily life.

Don’t let the colourful, pleasant cover fool you - this is a miserable book. Someone tries to buy her first baby, her second baby dies, their house burns down, and her husband doesn’t keep the promise he makes to her at the beginning of the book. Which somehow I found the most galling thing out of all of it. Having said that, I did throughly enjoy this book, so there’s that.

There's a reason that I didn't like this when I was young, despite the fact that I loved the others. It's really too desperate for children. Otoh, if they learn not to be as reckless as these kids (and yes, though Manly is 29, he's still immature) with their finances that would be a good thing.

The thing is, Manly wants the kind of farm he grew up on in New York. Apparently he never learned just how his father built that up. And of course the dry prairie is no place for that kind of farm, either. Now we know from biographies and the supplementary/ later books that all worked out ok in the end, but the cost of learning lessons was, imo, too high.

Note that this was published posthumously, unpolished. It's excellently written, but different from the earlier eight books. And, I repeat, better for teens or adults.

A 2.5 star review.

By far the weakest of all Laura books, and a book that leads credence to the theory that Rose Wilder edited all of Laura's other books, because the writing style is so vastly different from the rest of the series.

I enjoyed learning what happened after Laura and Almanzo got married, but was sad to see that they started out their marriage with such hardship! Every year just seemed to be worse than the one preceding it. Whereas the rest of the series are lovely comfort books, this one definitely isn't.

The Little House books were the first thing I ever bought when I found out I was having a baby. I first read them to my daughter when she was far too young to understand the words I was speaking. When she was old enough to read them for herself, I held this one back. I have heard rumors that it was unfinished or written by someone else. All I know is that it doesn't fit with the rest of the series. It's as if the main characters I loved so much suddenly lost their pioneering spirit. They stop working hard and start spending money they don't have, which has always been a strong theme in the series. It made me sad. I wish the series had stopped before this book came out. I wish I could un-read it.

After finishing "These Happy Golden Years" with the optimistic, happy outlook on the next stage of life, this book was terribly sad. I can see why Laura may have given up on finishing it. The only bright spot was the birth of Rose.

It's still a powerful story that shows perseverance, patience, and promise.