"Maybe everything comes out all right, if you keep on trying. Anyway, you have to keep on trying; nothing will come out right if you don't.”

This is Laura's truly first "grown up" book. Though she's only 16 when it begins, she's 18 and married when it finishes. She was already holding adult jobs and responsibilities, but now it's official. The fact that she'd already become an "adult" by this point also helps to make the age difference between her and Almanzo a little bit easier to accept. Frontier life did mean that women (girls?) married at a younger age, and to men old enough to file a homestead claim. Kinda sleazy by today's standards, but this was 150 years ago. There were other things "of the times" that make you cringe, like Almanzo saying that this would be Laura's last term teaching school because in a few months she'd be flipping his pancakes. Yeesh. Ok, yes, she hated teaching and wanted to keep house, but somehow this line irked me. It will also never cease to appall me when Laura tells Almanzo that she won't vow to "obey" him after their wedding, so he asks if she believes in women's rights, and she says no, she doesn't want to vote. Argh! Laura!

Ok, all of that aside....I do still love this book. I don't know what it is, but adolescent-me practically swooned at the romanticism of a young man whisking across the frozen landscape in order to bundle Laura off to home so that she could be with her family for the weekend instead of boarding in a miserable shanty. Dammit, *I* want to be snugged together with a dashing young man in a tiny little cutter, bundled under warm blankets, gliding through the snow behind two beautiful horses. Heck, even the part where Laura started to doze off from hypothermia, and Almanzo has to keep shaking her awake...something about it always felt romantic to me. This book is definitely one of the books the awakened my early burgeoning heteroromanticism.

This book, to me, feels like the "final" book, even though there's still "The First Four Years". That one has a different feel, so THIS one is the last of the TRUE Little House series.

December 2024 reread.
I forgot how stressful the early chapters were in this book! Laura’s anxiety about teaching Brewster’s school and the conditions boarding there made me anxious to read about. Things quickly cheer up when she is back home and we watch Laura and Almanzo come to love one another other and begin their life together.

December 2021 reread.
Happy golden years indeed.
I really enjoyed watching Laura come in to her own as a teacher and young woman as she slowly falls in love with Almanzo. I love the way we leave them at the end of the story, together in their little gray house in the west. Such a wonderful end to Laura's adolescence and beginning of her adult life.

December 2013 reread.

SO MUCH happens in this book! And I loved it all. After spending eight books with this family, I feel like I really know them. It's so great to see how Mary gained such confidence and ability from going to college, Carrie is such a dear, and Laura…Laura fascinates me! I love her shyness and her spirit of adventure; I admire her strength (how on earth did she endure the Brewsters!) and honesty. She doesn’t let any one walk over her, but she’s every inch a lady.

Almanzo and Laura's courtship is so lovely. LIW writes with a lot of restraint, but there is so much between the lines! In many ways, it makes the story that much more captivating. I pretty much love everything about their story--how Laura doesn't know how to make conversation at first, how Almanzo continues to come for her even if there's nothing in it for him (persistence!), how they tame Barnum and Skip, the buggy rides out to the lake, Laura's songs…*sigh* He really respects her and she respects him. They are upfront and honest and genuine with each other. It's all so entirely sweet and subtle. And…I think I'm getting a little sappy here (I just love this story that much!). As a side note, I always wonder what it is about Laura that initially attracted Almanzo to her. Perhaps because she was always described as being “as strong as a little French horse”…and we all know Almanzo loves horses! :)

That part with Nellie is absolutely hilarious. I was laughing out loud—that’s just “utterly too-too!” I can't help feeling a teeny bit sorry for Nellie, but I do love how Laura handles the situation. ;)

Laura's descriptions of all the dresses are so fun to read. They sound so pretty (and uncomfortable, but I suppose they got used to it). My favorite is the pink lawn; I think I want one exactly like it...and a poke bonnet, of course. Also, I think we can credit Ma with being the original creator of the LBD (Little Black Dress), right? After all, she insists to Laura that every woman should have one nice black dress (in this case it might be more of a Long Black Dress, though).

I’m not sure how I feel about Laura asking that the "obey" to be omitted from their marriage vows. Part of me really likes it—she knew it was a promise she couldn’t keep and that her reason and conscience should always guide her. I also like how Almanzo realizes they are partners and that he loves her for the independent person she is. However, I don’t know… “tradition” and all that, I guess? I do love how Laura doesn’t want to agree to a vow that she can’t keep. It shows honesty and integrity, I think. Plus, the whole "obey" phrase in that context is commonly misunderstood. It’s just confusing and it does make it sound like the man is to be lord and master over his submissive wife, or something. Eh. I am interested in why Rev. Brown opposes it being used…? He doesn't exactly seem like the 'type.'

Oh, I just love Laura and this series! It's bittersweet to see everyone grow up, and it just leaves me wanting more. Will someone publish Pioneer Girl already?

{Listened on audio book narrated by Cherry Jones.}

Reading this to our children was my first revisit since my mother read it aloud when I was a child, and I was amazed to recognize how many of my inward ideals about human adulthood, romance, and marriage had been formed by Laura's story. It was more fascinating to recognize, as my husband joined in the reading, that his ideals had been influenced by Almanzo's story.

The power of books is one thing. The power of human relationships is another. I think that what made Laura's books so profoundly successful is that they carry the force of a gracious human personality as well as the power of literature. The realization of how we have come to count her as a friend, with all the accompanying interest in her welfare, comes to a summit in this book, and through our affection, we are influenced. How can we but admire her tenacity in the book's difficult beginning, when she finishes her first school teaching term in wretched circumstances, and then rejoice in the providential rewards that follow? We are watching the formation of a character, and so is Almanzo.

What a lovely courtship; so simple and innocent, just two young people comfortable in each other's company. Laura comes into her own making money as a teacher and surprisingly she enjoys it. I actually had a hard time reading those parts; they reminded me so much of my first years teaching-the struggle to be firm yet fun. Always at this time of the year I yearn for those days when I decorated my classroom to some fanciful theme and watched the children's faces for their reaction.
Mary goes off to college and is quite successful. She doesn't use blindness as an excuse to give up on life. Perseverance continues to be the theme of these books. No one in the Ingalls family gets discouraged. They all realize that they make their own luck and results depend upon the work you complete.
Lots of songs in this book. Music is quite beloved to this family. I started of with Big Woods knowing all of the songs. By now I'm learning all sorts of new ones.
I can't get over how quickly one can read these books. Within several hours the pages just fly by. I always finish feeling so happy.

I finished up my reread of this series today. It's just comforting, to read those old childhood favorites with new eyes. My heart still skips a beat when Almanzo asks Laura if he can see her home that first time! I still get scared with Laura during her first teaching job (how awful was that Mrs Brewster?!)

I chalk a lot of how good I did in certain classes in school to stories like these, and wish more kids today were still reading them.

ETA 2017: I think that, in spite of this series not being romance, that Almanzo Wilder is one of my top most romantic males. He's sweet and caring, and he lets Laura be Laura. He keeps fetching her from school, even after she tells him she's not interested, and then keeps on trying after the school thing is all done! And he lets Laura drive his crazy, half broken horses!

We listened to most of the books in this series over the course of the summer, so my review is more about the series than this specific book.

I've probably enjoyed this audiobook series more than any other audiobook I've listened to (which I guess isn't saying much because I don't generally love audiobooks, but whatever). The narrator, Cherry Jones, just does a fantastic job bringing the story and real-life characters to life. She also sings all the songs that Pa and Laura sing throughout the series - and that's a lot of singing! For the most part, as far as I could tell, she was singing the actual tunes, which means a lot of research went into it. Some of those folk songs are pretty obscure. I also really loved that a fiddler played along with the songs as well. Just really well done all around.

As to the story itself, which I hadn't read since I was a girl, I really, really loved it. Laura Ingalls Wilder brings you through the whole gamut of the human emotional experience: fear (terror even, sometimes!), sadness, indignation, happiness, celebration, boredom, physical exhaustion, depression, triumph, and above all, the sacrificial love of a family. I laughed, I cried, I gasped in horror on occasion. Without getting bogged down in details, she describes each setting so you feel you are there together with Laura and her family, feeling the vast expanse of the prairie, and shivering from the cold every winter.

One caveat: There's some racism, there, to be sure. A product of its time and it brings up issues for a healthy discussion if you're listening with your kids. We were all a bit horrified by the minstrel show that Pa and his buddies put on in one of the shows. I cringe even thinking about it. But I think it's important not to hide from shameful attitudes and events of the past. We have to acknowledge it and face up to it and then move forward. Just my personal opinion.

By far my favorite of the series! Laura embarks in her profession of teacher (at the ripe old age of 16). She experiences life away from home (and is fairly miserable but keeps a stiff upper lip) and learns how to deal with unruly students. She relishes in her weekends home and begins to appreciate Almanzo Wilder (who drives her home every weekend, even in terrible weather conditions). Throughout the book (and after Laura has moved back home for closer teaching positions), their romance blooms. Since this is a children's book, there is obviously nothing torrid about it, but, it's no less thrilling when he finally gets around to proposing. Laura's other friends are also getting engaged/married; Mary is doing well at college, Laura's little sisters are fascinated by the grown up Laura, and Pa and Ma remain the calm, serene and loving influences that they've always been. At the end of the book, Laura moves with husband Almanzo to their own claim. The last few pages describing her entering her new house (he'd kept it a surprise) and exploring are my favorites.

I have really been enjoying this series...probably because I loved reading about Laura's childhood, knowing that she would fall in love and become a Wilder eventually!! Well, let me tell ya. This is about the most unromantic courtship and engagement I have ever read. I was highly disappointed. It's as if Laura never even had eyes for ANY boy so she could not understand why Almanzo, (this older Homesteader man) would want to drive her home. DUH!!!! Even the proposal was awful. Something like...Almanzo: "What would you think of a ring"? Laura: "Well, it would depend who gave it to me". Almanzo: "Well, what if I was to give it?" Laura: "Then it would depend on the ring". There is no excitement, no witty banter, no sweet smiles and gestures. In fact, I didn't really sense ANY joy on Laura's part, even in her writing about this time in her life. In this book, she is only TRULY happy when she is home with her family!
Also, there is not really anything said about Almanzo or why she fell in love with him. He just seems like a young man with a buggy! Basically, their "courtship" consists of Laura stoically sitting in the buggy not really saying anything. Then, a marriage is performed in a hurry, so they can move out to his homestead and begin life. I suppose I will try to get through "The First Four Years" just so I can say I read the whole series, but I was SO hopeful for a more joyful, romantic entrance into courtship and marriage for Laura.

n  

These happy golden years are passing by, these happy golden years.

n
Arguably the most recognizable quote from the eighth book in the series and rightly so. We transition from girlhood to adulthood by having Laura slowly, but surly, fall love.

I distinctly remember that this was the first time that I mourned the loss of a character - I was in fifth grade and the book-Laura was still alive. Yet, I remember sadness and sorrow.

The Laura we knew has grown into a woman. It's no longer Ma, Pa and Laura. Gone are the days spent roasting the pig's tail and singing along to Pa's fiddle. This was the first time I had realized that I would someday leave my parents.

I sincerely wish we could've had more books for this series prior to Laura marrying Almanzo. Or even more written by Laura as her daughter grew up.

Audiobook Comments
Read by Cherry Jones and accompanied by Paul Woodiel on the fiddle - together they really brought the audio alive. Loved it.

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I like the quiet simplicity of this book: the descriptions of the prairie, the horse-breaking, the clothes they were sewing. This is book about slowly leaving home to start married life.
The first part was somewhat repetitious. It was clear that Laura was boarding with an unwell woman, Mrs. Brewster. Who pulled a knife on Mr. Brewster in the middle of the night. There is an illustration of this. And I thought, well this is a wild book.
But soon Laura is back at home and working to balance herself becoming a young woman and how she feels with her family. There is a slow courtship with Almanzo Wilder. As something sweet he takes her to a singing lessons group.
I enjoyed the value placed on simple items and how you know they would try to keep these things for decades. They were not dealing with the obsolete aspect of things like we do now, to our shame. I remember that my grandparents had really old things, but my parents do not have really old things. We've all given away so much, or it's broken. Anyway, These Happy Golden Years can be a thought inspiring book if you want it to be.

Always amazing!

I’ve reviewed this book before but the entire series is a must read for any age! Keep these books in your family to share. Enjoy!