Full review at Smoke & Mirrors: http://books-n-music.blogspot.com/201.... Oh, my! I loved this book so much more than the first two in this series! I am a farm/country girl, and as a child I always enjoyed "boy" activities so much more than typical "girl" activities! I was right in there with poor Almanzo, though I have no siblings so therefore had no direct experience regarding getting along with brothers and sisters, I could relate to the frustration of having to always "wait" until he was older, more responsible, etc.! And I was rather happy for his parents when he informed them he wished to keep on farming. Although I believe that we, as parents, have no right to try to decide upon a career, etc., for our children, nonetheless, it was obviously a relief for them to know that at least for now, they had one child who intended to remain in farming. It was also enlightening to see that some of the same considerations faced by "farming families" now were pertinent 'way back then.' Though throughout the last half of the 20th Century farming became so industrialized and institutionalized it became ever more difficult to make a living as a single-family farm operation. Now with the advent of organic/self-sustaining farming operations returning, perhaps there will now be a niche for those who wish to farm. Though it is tough for ANY small business endeavor to be successful in this day and age. Tough to clear enough profit to support a family. Can't wait to post a review on my blog!

Almanzo Wilder will eventually become Laura Ingalls' husband. In Farmer Boy, he is 9/10 years old and works on his family farm in upstate New York. As with the prior two books in the series, this one focuses on 'a year in the life'.

While still interesting and heart-warming, this installment is my least favorite so far. With the Ingalls family story, the reader always wonders what will happen next and if all will turn out well for them. For the Wilder's however, things are a little easier. Almanzo's father is not only a successful farmer but a good businessman. He raises and sells colts ($200 each which was a fortune in that time.) Mrs. Wilder sells her butter, they bale their surplus hay for a profit, etc. Throughout the story we are told of hundreds of dollars put into the bank. At the same time, they seem to have plenty of food including cakes, pies, popcorn, etc. Almanzo himself eats enough for a family of four.

Don't get me wrong. The entire family works hard from morning to night - running a farm isn't easy. BUT...there wasn't the same feeling of living on the edge. This story felt more like a how-to for life in the late 1800s. How to bale hay. How to make ice cream. How to transport logs. See what I'm saying?

Probably the most heart-warming scene is towards the end. Almanzo's older brother is off at boarding school as he wants to become a shopkeeper. Both sisters are also at the school. Almanzo is still too young so is left at home. When Mr. Wilder is offered for Almanzo to apprentice with a businessman in town, he considers it but decides to leave it up to his son. Both mother and father were hopeful that he would choose to stay and run the farm but were unwilling to force him. (How hard would that be? As a parent, you've worked hard your entire life to build a successful farm and then you may have to face the reality that none of your children want to walk in your footsteps.) Fortunately for everyone, Almanzo is a farmer boy at heart. He has no desire to do anything else and his dream is to have his own colt that he can break. That dream comes true with Starlight.

Overall, still a great book. I can't wait to get further into the series!

4/5 stars.

This is both a very sweet book and a lesson of history on the everyday work that pioneers in America did. And of course it's full of the most amazing descriptions of food ever!

I had never read any of the Little House On The Prairie books before but now after reading Farmer Boy, I feel like I really need to read them all! The writing is lovely, apt for both younger and older readers and the descriptions of the family life and the characters are absolutely charming!

Almanzo lives with his family in a farm and he's a little boy that is about to turn 9, and doesn't like much going to school. He prefers staying home and helping with the chores, wants to grow up and have his own colt to tame.

Reading this book kept making me hungry with all the wonderful descriptions of food, pancakes, pies, marmalades, jams, and anything and everything, and alternatively made feel like I wouldn't last a day working in a farm like the Wilder's, because chores start at 5 am and there was so much hard work! Still, it was done with some love, dedication and pride in their job, and Almanzo was so willing to prove his worth that it was never made feel like grueling and terrible work.

I was expecting the books to be a bit more preachy for some reason, but they never felt so. The kids misbehaved on occasion and they were never perfect and they simply sounded so genuine when they were a lil naughty and then repented. The time when they were left alone in the house and used up all the sugar making ice cream and almost ruined the parlor's wallpaper is the best example!

With plenty of details about genuine frontier living for the pioneers and a lot of love for that way of living in the way it's written this was a great book for me to read as an adult, and one that I'd recommend for kids nowadays to read for sure. Just a word of warning, you'll want to eat everything mentioned in the book for sure!

Well deserved 4 stars for this lil gem!

Maddie gives it a 4.5 star rating and says “I loved it!”

All the little details about Almanzo's kindness, responsibility, and respect towards everyone have made the book perfect. How a little boy loved and took care of every animal and plant like a family really amazed me. Enjoyed every second of this book.

A year in the life of LIW's future husband when he was a kid. He grew up on a farm (obvs) and so we follow all the work that happens on a farm through each season. I love that part of it, but I think Wilder does not at all excel at explaining the details of certain things, in this book or in her other books: descriptions, for example, of how to make a sled or a yoke always leave me cross-eyed and none the wiser, and the narrative would be better without them. However, we still enjoy the series as a read-aloud project - Charlie's happy with them and I loved them as a kid, too, and am enjoying the revisit.

I put off reading this for so long because it wasn't about Laura and her family. What a mistake! This was just as fantastic and very worth the read :)

another audiobook reread, RTC. god i want pie

This has always been my least favorite Little House book, but only because it's not about Laura. When I was reading the series as a child, I was really just interested in Laura and this book is not about her. However, now that I'm an adult, I can more appreciate it for what it is. I'm really glad that Laura wrote about Almanzo's childhood. This is a very sweet book.

Owen: I liked when they found Mr. Thompson's pocketbook, and I liked when the shoemaker came. I liked when his parents went on vacation, and when Almanzo's teacher whipped up those mean kids. I liked Almanzo. It was interesting when Almanzo was teaching the cows. I think I would like to be a farmer boy. I wouldn't like all the chores, but I would like the animals, especially the colts.

Mom: This was a great book to read with Owen. It was fun learning about farm life. Almanzo and his dad were really good role models for a boy. One of the first stories in the book is pretty nuts though. There are mean kids who literally beat up teachers so that they will leave and there won't be anymore school. Then one teacher brings an actual whip to show those toughs who the real boss is. The difference in passable behavior between then and now is stark.

Also, the way Almanzo's dad talked about training animals was mad inspirational advice for parenting.

It’s as wonderful as I remember it being when I read it as a child! It’s actually my favorite book in the Little House series. I love the detailed descriptions of daily life and chores and Almanzo’s quest to be big enough to break a colt. His parents are great examples, kindly and patiently teaching their children to live honestly and well and to enjoy working hard.

It was great learning about Almanzo Wilder and his family. Since he was going to become Laura's husband and father of their children it was great seeing how important it was to her for her readers to know, understand, and admire Almanzo as much as she did.