Finished reading this tonight with my 5-year-old. She begged me to read her the last two chapters, even though it was a wee past bedtime. I obliged. Can't dampen this budding reader's enthusiasm, can I? Bedtime be damned.

She keeps telling me she wished she could meet Laura. Reminds me of Holden Caufield in "Catcher in the Rye." She also wants to take train ride to see the vast prairie. Funny little girl.

I was surprised to find Laura more silly and even annoying at times than in books past. Her narrations were more self centered. She seemed only concerned with being outside and running around like an Indian with her bonnet down her back all the time. Yes, she had redeeming moments when she decided to become a school teacher for Ma or save money to help send Mary to a blind college back east. But mostly she just ran wild and seemed obsessed with being out west. She drove me crazy at times! But then after I finished the book, I realized that Laura is now 13, a teenager. Then I understood better why I disliked her attitude in this book.

My heart breaks for the family and their many trials in this book. I think I read it so fast because I was anxious for them to be settled and happy. But we don’t really get to see that. They can’t seem to catch a break. From poor and stalwart Mary learning to live with blindness to living out on a worker’s camp to strangers eating their food stores, the Ingalls seem to constantly be overcoming some difficulty. As with other books, they continually overcome this challenges with grace and class. Ma is an incredible homemaker, companion, and worker; I admire her greatly. But I also felt so sorry for her having to continually give up established homes to follow Pa on his next big adventure. I would not have enjoyed all that moving.

What surprised me in the plot of this novel was how quickly technology has advanced. Travel becomes so much easier with the railroad. And towns pop up quicker than expected. The family even gets to live in a well stocked surveyor’s home for the winter that has more varied food and supplies than they are used to. Overall, I was amazed at the speed of technological advancement. And I thought a lot about how impressive it would be to live during this time and to see so much change in the world.

Overall, this was not my favorite Little House book. But I appreciated hearing about how the family was growing up and the world was changing.

A childhood treasure

I have read this children's book, and the entire series it is part of, countless times over the years. My own children read these novels, and now my grandchildren are reading them. Every so often, as a comfort read, I like to revisit Laura and her family.

Hoopla offers the entire series in both ebook and audiobook format. The audiobook narrator of this series does an excellent job.

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