I didn't know what to expect, thought it would be like the tv series. It wasn't like that. The book really had to grow on me. Not bad at all but maybe more for children.

This book is in the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up challenge I am doing.

This first installment in the Little House series has always been my favorite (although I love them all, and am letting this single review stand in for the series entire), probably because A. As the first Little House book I read, I hold a special affection for its magic (it was my entree into an amazing other world) and B. As other smart reviewers have pointed out, there's something sort of sad about the fact that it chronicles the only chapter in Laura's life in which she was surrounded by her extended family; there's an earned halcyon quality to the story.

As a child I loved learning about the details of pioneer life. I loved Laura's ambivalent relationship to Nell (I too, had an overshadowing older sister), and I loved the half-understood glimpses of Laura's parents' married life. If I close my eyes right now I can conjure perfectly their tiny cabin, the loft where they slept, etc. God, to read now as I read then!

When I visited Pepin, WI a few years ago in order to see the Little House museum there (the site of Little House in the Big Woods), I was shocked to discover that there are no--NONE, NADA, ZILCH--big woods left. The replica cabin is in the middle of a field. This discovery broke my heart.

This was AMAZING! Such a classic, and the vibe it gave was just...

I grew up with the Little House on the Prairie tv series, but I didn't read any of the actual books until my son was about seven. We read all nine books together, and before we knew what was happening, I was wearing a bonnet and we'd traveled to all of the Laura Ingalls Wilder historic sites in South Dakota, Minnesota and Missouri.

(I can only bless my son for his patience and grace that hot summer day as he stood politely over by a tree while I had an animated conversation and shared some hot tears with Laura, at her grave in Mansfield, Missouri).

When I read the series to my middle child, she'd already seen the photos of her mother's and brother's Laura Ingalls adventures, and she was ready to don the bonnet and aprons, but I told her she needed to wait until her little sister had experienced the books and then we'd go together, as a family.

This past week marked my youngest child's first exposure to the series, (this book being the perfect selection, also, for our “Wisconsin” entry of our Kids Read Across America project).

To be honest, I didn't know how this particular reading experience was going to go. This child, my third child, is my “Janis Joplin.” She moves around quite a bit while I'm reading to her, often humming or singing under her breath, and she's the most challenging of my kids to engage.

For the first several chapters of this book, she kept saying, “So that girl with the brown hair. She's telling the story?” When I explained that yes, this is Laura's story, and it's a true story, she would say, “So, she's still a girl?” When I explained that no, she's not a girl anymore, and she is in fact dead now, my daughter became horrified, and wondered how a dead woman wrote this story.

I'm not sure why we got stuck in this loop, but we did. For a couple of nights.

Eventually, the story completely took over her senses and she absolutely loved it. Loved it so much in fact, she demanded to know when we were going to “Laura's house,” like her big brother did when he was little. She also said she doesn't want to read any more states in our challenge, she just wants to read this series.

Wow. Can you believe, after all of these years, that this story of pioneer life in the 1870s is still so engaging to a modern child (even despite the descriptions of Pa slaughtering animals for dinner?)

This will be my favorite memory of reading this classic to my youngest child. . . when we got to the part where little Laura is sitting with her sister, Mary, there's this charming illustration of the sisters with their dolls:



I pointed out to my daughter that Mary had a rag doll made by her mother, but Laura had only a corncob for a doll. I explained “that's how things were, back then. Children didn't have as many things as they have now.”

My daughter was chomping on a big wad of gum at this moment, and she pointed at the corncob doll and said, “That? That piece of corn was her doll?”
I said, “Yep. Can you imagine that being all you had?”

She shook her head and said, “Damn.”

I looked at her and said, “Damn? That's adult language, honey. Where did you learn that word?”

She said, “The other day, Mommy, you said to Daddy: I can't get anything on this damn computer to work.”

Sigh.
Ma and Pa would be so proud, wouldn't they??

A masterclass in descriptive writing. I read it with the kids—first time since childhood. Good memories.

ঘুম ঘুম চোখ, কানে কানে কেউ যেন একটা মিষ্টি গল্প শুনিয়ে গেলো। তুষারাবৃত অরণ্য, হরিণ, ভাল্লুক সহ আরো কত কি। এরা সবাই যেন সত্যি হয়ে চোখে সামনে ঝলমলে দিনের আলোর মতো ভেসে গেলো। ছোটদের জন্য লেখা গল্প, এই বয়সে এসে এমন মধুর লাগবে। ভাবাই যায়না।

3.5 Stars

As an adult these are not as interesting. I can see how children would love them though! They are very informative of the past.

The Little House on the Prairie books bring back so many good memories. I have been looking for my box of old books for awhile now but still haven't found it. I'm really hoping it didn't get lost when I moved last year. There are so many books that I would love to re-read.

I'm not sure why I didn't read these to my daughter. I think she had so many books that we just never got around to it.

Little House in the Big Woods is the first book of the series and will always be my favorite, but I did enjoy all of the books in the collection. I tried to find the edition on here that looked most like what I remember, and I think this is the same cover that was on my book.

I can clearly my mom reading it to me before I could read myself. Sitting on my bed next to her watching as she read. Once I was able to read it myself I picked it up again to read to her, watching as her fingers slid underneath the words and helping me with the hard ones. She mentioned the other day that it's one of her favorite memories too.

I loved all of the characters. Laura, Ma, Pa, Carrie and Mary as well as many others. I dreamt of living in that little cabin in the woods and desperately wanted Laura Ingalls as a best friend. The fun and adventures these children had along with their dog, Jack was entertaining every time it was read to me or by me.

When it was turned into a TV show, I was escastic! I remember it was on every Sunday at 6pm on Channel 2. I was allowed to watch it while sitting in my dads lazy-boy recliner and nothing could tear me away.

If I can't find my old books I will definitley buy another collection as I would love to re-read them at some point.

Even writing this review has brought back great memories of these wonderful stories <3

কথাশিল্পী হুমায়ূন আহমেদ ভালো পাঠক ছিলেন। তিনি নিজে বিভিন্ন উত্তম সাহিত্য পাঠ করতেন এবং নিজের পাঠকদের উৎসাহিত করতেন৷ বাংলাদেশের বইপড়ুয়াদের একটি বড় অংশকে তিনি মার্কিনদেশের অসাধারণ লেখক লরা ইঙ্গেলস ওয়াইল্ডারের সাথে পরিচয় করিয়ে দেন৷ নর্থ ডাকোটা স্টেট ইউনিভার্সিটিতে তিনি পিএইচডি করার সিদ্ধান্ত নিয়েছিলেন লরা ইঙ্গেলস ওয়াইল্ডারের স্মৃতিকথা পড়ে। লরার স্মৃতিকথা এতটাই মনোমুগ্ধকর যে হুমায়ূন আহমেদের গভী��ভাবে প্রভাবিত হওয়াকে দোষ দেওয়া যায় না।

লরার স্মৃতিকথা সিরিজের পহেলা বই এটি। পড়তে গিয়ে কখন সময় কেটে গেছে বুঝতেই পারিনি। নিজের ছোটবেলার স্মৃতির এত বিস্তৃত বর্ণনা দেওয়া নিঃসন্দেহে দুরূহ কাজ। বর্ণনার ভারে লেখা শ্লথ হয়ে যায়নি। বরং চোখের সামনে উইসকনসিনের বনবাসী ছোট্ট লরা ও তার পরিবারকে দেখতে পাচ্ছিলাম।

লরা এই বইয়ের অনেকটা জুড়ে তার পিতার ছোটবেলার নানান ঘটনা সুন্দর করে লিখেছেন। বঙ্গদেশে বসেও একটি ইয়াঙ্কি পরিবারের সংগ্রামমুখর আনন্দে ভরা জীবনের কথা পড়তে মন্দ লাগেনি।

প্রায় শত বছর আগের মানুষ লরা। ইংরেজি একেবারে সহজবোধ্য নয়। বইয়ের পাতায় পাতায় কৃষ্ণাঙ্গ ও রেড ইন্ডিয়ানদের প্রতি নানাভাবে বিদ্বেষ ও বর্ণবাদ পাঠকের দৃষ্টি এড়াবে না। কালো মানুষদের নিচ এবং রেড ইন্ডিয়ানদের শত্রু হিসেবে চিহ্নিত করা হয়েছে বইটিতে।

I was so excited when I found a box sett of all these books in my local charity shop a few weeks ago! I remember this one from my childhood and it was even in the same edition as I remembered it! Perfect find. The story of the Ingalls family is such a comforting and delightful read that fits all ages. A coming of age series about a.family who moves to the prairie. In this book they haven't moved yet and lives in a little house the the big woods (haha). A few months pass by in this book and you get too see how a normal year looked like in that time and even if it's written for young kids it's still very enjoyable. I did love it but I'm not giving it 5 stars but I'm sure as the series kicks of more in the other books I will give at least on of them 5 stars!

It's that time of year again.

I loved this ☺️. I never read these books as a kid so figured I'd grab a set and start reading them with my little girl. We both loved it! Our family loves reading about homesteading as well so I loved all the little details of how they prepared during the different seasons. Looking forward to reading the rest of the books!