Two Laura's - both with birthdays in the first week of February? We got pretty excited about that over here!

A great way to introduce young readers to the Little House books.

I haven't read Little House on the Prairie to our girls yet, so I thought I would read some of the books in this series of picture books first to introduce them to the story. They enjoyed the pictures and the story is short and sweet. It's a nice story to read at bedtime. We've read this one a couple of times.

I was thrilled when my son brought this home as his school library book pick for the week, as I am in the midst of re-reading the original series myself. We enjoyed this together and it sparked a discussion about life before TV, video games, electricity, and running water.

AR 3.6

I adore Little House. Of course. They have a special place for me. I love that they have adapted some of the stories into picture books. But this one seemed to lose a bit of the charm. It wasn't all about how special the birthday was. The Sunday bit seemed a bit odd to have in there. Maybe it was supposed to show how special her celebration was. I don't know. But it isn't quite what I was hoping for in a birthday-theme book.

A sweet rendition of Laura's birthday in the Big Woods. I hadn't realized Renée Graef didn't illustrate all of these books. This one was done by Doris Ettlinger, who captured Graef's style (and Garth Williams's, in the chain of things) quite well.

The only one in the picture-book series I don't really like, this book's title is a bit misleading. Most of the story is about how miserably boring Sundays are and how the girls have to sit quietly all day. The text even mentions what a relief it is that Sunday wouldn't come again for a whole week.

It is a shame that historically, the Lord's Day became the customary dreary day of no-fun-allowed and multiple long services in uncomfortable buildings. This is difficult to read about but interesting nonetheless, and for sure a topic that was included in the Little House books. I just wish it needn't have been the focus of this particular story, which is aimed at small children and is introducing the questionable idea that Sundays are inherently rotten. Besides, it took up so much of the story that the birthday (which came on Monday) seemed out of place, as if it was tacked on at the end as an afterthought. Not the best execution, unfortunately.

The pictures, however, are lovely, as usual!

My daughter loves this book, but I find it really frustrating that so much of it is about how awful Sundays are rather than inserting something else into the storyline. I know that that's how the original books are written, but I think it skews the perspective when half of the birthday book is about how lame Sundays are. I skipped those parts every time I read this to my daughter and was relieved when we gave it back to the library so that I wouldn't have to remember to skip the "Sundays were so boring" parts anymore.

picture resource of the little house on the prairie one small chapter

Every child should have the Little House books in their personal collection. I love the illustrations!

I have a great love of all things 'Little House' so when I saw this at the library book sale I had to have it. Hazel also loves it, and we have read this story many, many times. She is well on her way to being another Little House girl. The pictures are cute, the story is not too wordy, but not too short either.