Little House on the Prairie

Written by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Narrated by Cherry Jones

The third book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's treasured Little House series.

The adventures continue for Laura Ingalls and her family as they leave their little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin and set out for the big skies of the Kansas Territory. They travel for many days in their covered wagon until they find the best spot to build their house. Soon they are planting and plowing, hunting wild ducks and turkeys, and gathering grass for their cows. Just when they begin to feel settled, they are caught in the middle of a dangerous conflict.

The nine Little House books are inspired by Laura's own childhood and have been cherished by generations of readers as both a unique glimpse into America's frontier history and as heartwarming, unforgettable stories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Feb 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9780060754204

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957) was born in a log cabin in the Wisconsin woods. With her family, she pioneered throughout America’s heartland during the 1870s and 1880s, finally settling in Dakota Territory. She married Almanzo Wilder in 1885; their only daughter, Rose, was born the following year. The Wilders moved to Rocky Ridge Farm at Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894, where they established a permanent home. After years of farming, Laura wrote the first of her beloved Little House books in 1932. The nine Little House books are international classics. Her writings live on into the twenty-first century as America’s quintessential pioneer story.

Reviews for Little House on the Prairie

[quaintlittlehead · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a classic of children's literature that has an unusual air of distinction about it in the present day and age. It is simultaneously incredibly simple to read in terms of its language use, and yet very complex in terms of the social situation it presents. This book continues the story of the Ingalls family as they move from Wisconsin to Indian Territory and start a new life there. In its depiction of pioneer life, it provides an unparalleled glimpse for young readers into a time in American history when things were very different. In terms of the family and their everyday tasks, the story is quaint, charming, and fun to read, with a dash of humour and love. In terms of the status of Native Americans in the area at the time, however, the story is forthright and hard to fully grasp from a modern point of view. The overall picture of Native Americans in the story is a relatively balanced one, with the family's fear of the local tribes pitted against a couple of instances in which Pa comes to believe that some of the natives are all right. However, the common saying that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian" is uttered by other characters in the story, and it is definitely apparent that feelings during this period were tense. It would be impossible to say for sure whether Wilder cleaned up her portrayal of her family, as they appear to take a kinder view of Native Americans than others in the story, but she does do modern readers a favour by offering an honest look into the difficulties of Anglo-Native relations at the time. The book deals openly with a very sensitive issue, which makes it an important contribution to youth literature. It might simply be wise, though, to guide young readers through their understanding of what is conveyed in this work and how it is appreciated from a modern perpspective, rather than letting children read this on their own and formulate their own ideas about the subject.

[imperfectcj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book began to develop a little beyond just the catalog of everyday activities that Little House in the Big Woods basically was.

It touches on issues of racism and politics as it affects individuals. I enjoyed seeing how Ma and Pa handled their difference of opinion about their Native American neighbors. Each held to his or her own convictions on the matter, but each was respectful of the other person's view. Pa turned out to be right (thank goodness...I don't know how I would have explained it to my daughter had it turned out the other way), but he didn't lord it over Ma.

Wilder's descriptions grew more effective and more emotionally real in this book. She does a lot to convey emotion with a minimum of words. There was more than one scene along the trail in front of the house in which the tension was just so apparent. Wilder never had to come right out and explain that the situation between the natives and the white settlers was a tenuous one, she just let those scenes speak for themselves.

[Ronda Sue Wingo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This one definitely needs some discussion if you’re reading/listening with kids. The language around “Indians” at that time definitely wasn’t very nice to say the least. The book is told from a child’s perspective though and you still get the impression that Pa has a bit more respect for them than other adults.

One of my faves as a kid and still a good story, though.

[Rynier Carpendale · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everything I enjoyed it ever sooooo much thank-you ?
From ?

[Rachelle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is a wonderful classic! And I loved the reader!

[Holly Rusch · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The narrator does a fantastic job with this classic sorry. The children and I are mesmerized every night at bed.

[bensdad00 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read aloud to the boys, just as enjoyable as the first volume, looking forward to the rest.

[jmfrey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My 9 year old twins like listening to this series. My boy likes the interesting historical parts and my girl like the action from a child’s perspective.

[Fena Reti · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed it but it also made me feel a bit uncomfortable with the way it characterised native Americans.

[jesse · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fun book to listen to. Great insight on how life was back then. I see a lot of reviews basically trying to cancel this book. To me, it was very educational and gave me more sympathy of how Native Americans were treated. Keep this book authentic.

[Anna Baxter · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Love this series!! A great road trip book for my two year old, five year old and seven year old

[Jennifer Rowlett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

this story is great, and with an awesome twist at the end!

[Dottie Schritchfield · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'll never tire of this story so beautifully written. I am right there on the prairie with Laura and her family. I can hear the meadowlarks and the fiddle singing.

[simone taranelli · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I don’t know what’s so amazing just listen to it and you’ll find out

[Amy Fortin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Classic. Kept picturing all of the actors from the 70’s as it went on. Childhood unlocked!

[desmondhaye_72374921 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful Book. I really like Pa’s fiddle. I love Laura’s character!

[Danielle Wegener · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Best audiobook reader I've ever heard. She makes it so fun and lively!

[Tom Sloan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Transformation happened daily as I listened to this excellent audio production. Thank you for passing on all these values of the perspective of the 1880s settlement of the USA in this unabridged 1935 first copyright edition. Easy peace filled adventure listening ?

[rainpebble_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder; (4 1/2*)My G'ma gave one of the 'Little House' books to me when I was a youngster way back in the 1950s. I don't even remember which one it was but today at 70 I am still reading them. They enrapture me and I love how Ingalls minutely describes the manner in which they built the items they needed to accomplish their tasks.Stories such as these remind you of what family ties, loyalty, respect and responsibility mean.

[Andrea Davis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

very interesting, sad as well, but not very sad. A very entertaining story of miss wilder's life

[samsiis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such a happy book.
Reminds one of what life could be.
A beautiful life we can all have!

[the_hibernator · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The area around the Ingalls' little house in the big woods is getting crowded, and Pa decides to hop in the wagon and head off to "Indian country" in Kansas. The family find a nice place to settle and spend months building a home there. But just as things are beginning to settle down to a normal life, they begin to have troubles with the natives in the area, who are angry about all the settlers moving into their territory. This plot was a lot less passive than the story from Little House in the Big Woods, and as a result I enjoyed it a good deal more. This is my first time reading the series and it's exciting to experience the story that so many people rave about. Maybe I'll even check out the TV series, though I hear it's nothing like the books. One thing I had trouble with in this story was the handling of the Native Americans and their culture. Obviously, this book was written in a time when there was a lot of tension between Natives and white settlers, and the language and attitude expressed in Little House was acceptable. However, this may be one of those books that I would discuss with a young child if they were reading it. I don't believe in telling a child not to read a book, but I do believe in discussing certain points of books with children if it's possible for them to misunderstand the context. This is definitely one of those books. In the long run, though, I'm really enjoying this series and am eager to move on to the next book.

[Eric · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this, but I'm kind of sad that they had to move from their prairie house But I'm sure the next book in the series is going to be awesome!!!!!!!

[Ashley Grizzell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It sounded so real like I was in the book!!

[Shantel Jones · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The little house books are one of my favorite series, and now my boys are enjoying them just as much! Especially for my autistic son these have helped him to understand people's feelings and how people live differently from us and that is a good thing. I love these books!

[atreic · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Despite this book being an epic tale of wilderness life, I found myself getting a bit bogged down in places - oh look, another chapter where they will all survive a Terrible Thing! Mostly everyone is superhumanly stoic and bold and content with their fiddle music under the stars, and there are only tiny glimpses of people not being happy with their lot (like when Laura feels she has to give all her pretty beads to her baby sister because Mary did.) There is a prairie fire, malaria, nearly drowing in river crossings, nearly dying in a well.. it makes me very grateful for (and slightly embarrassed of) my own privileged existence!The complete lack of challenge that Pa is anything other than a good and wise father figure is very kind and christian, but really, viewed with a bit of perspective, he makes some very bold decisions, minister - he takes his family away from all their friends and family, goes into disputed Indian territory, spends a miserable brutal year trying to build a house from scratch, and then loses it all because (turns out!) he was an illegal settler and can't stay there. His wife is a saint.I feel I ought to warn it is completely of its time in its treatment of, well, everything, but mostly Native Americans. Although the bit where Laura watches them pass and sees the baby as some kind of delightful pet that she just wants to own is an excellent description of how you can other and exoticise things, that could be a good jumping off point for a more nuanced conversation.

[marse_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Unlike the TV show, the book "Little House on the Prairie" does not take place anywhere near a town (the nearest town is 40 miles away, a two-day journey). The only neighbors live several miles away, and the closest people are the Indians that sometimes come uninvited to the home to take food, and the ones that are congregating down by the creek.Pa Ingalls builds a house from scratch with some help from the neighbors. They start growing food, Pa goes hunting. The most interesting part of the story is, in my opinion, how the Indians are presented. The first meeting with some Indians happens while Pa is away. Two men, wearing skunk loin clothes, but little else, come in and take food -- no words spoken. Caroline (Ma) is terrified and lets them take what they want. Mary and Laura are also afraid, they smell bad and leave an unpleasant impression. When Pa comes back, he tells Ma she did right not to protest their actions, but from then on they lock up there supplies in a cabinet with a lock.Overall, Pa seems to feel that nothing bad will happen, as long as they don't do anything to irritate the Indians -- this means chaining up Jack the dog because he growls and lunges at the Indians when they go by the trail. Laura hears the neighbors say that the only good Indian is a dead Indian, which Pa does not agree with. Later, when Laura starts asking about why the Indians have to move west, her father cuts her off, basically saying the Indians will have to move because the government has given the land to people like themselves, settlers. Without getting into details, political or otherwise, Laura's question plants the idea that something is very unfair, even immoral about what they are doing there.By the end, the Ingalls watch as a long, long trail of Indians move past their little House to another settlement, away from their homes and what they had always known. This is a telling chapter. Laura watches with excitement at the ponies going by with the men. The descriptions of the Native Americans is somewhat stereotyped, but not necessarily negative. Then come the women, the mothers and children and last, a lone woman with a baby -- and Laura wants that baby. She is hushed by her father, but she cries. She can't explain what she is feeling. She knows they are gone forever.After all the work of building a house, digging a well, planting crops, dealing with a prairie fire, Ingalls packs up the family to move west when he finds out the government will remove the settlers from Indian Territory. Once again the family is traveling in a covered wagon to new horizons.

[quinton.baran · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I finished reading this to my children last night. I have somewhat regularly read them a chapter each night. I enjoyed reading this book and series when I was a boy. It is interesting to see it from an adult perspective, and see the historical perspective (I understand that the books were somewhat conglomerations by Laura and her daughter Rose, and that the sequence was actually Prairie THEN Big House in the Woods).

My kids enjoyed the stories about the birth of the pony, the Indian stories, and the story of Mr. Edwards encountering Santa Claus and bringing back things to them. I explained to them the wealth that they live in, compared to the poverty that these children and family experience; nevertheless, they were happy and enjoyed life. One phrase that was interesting to me was after planting gardens, they would "eat like kings". We truly eat like kings today, as we have many of the privileges that Monarch and/or Nobility once held to themselves.

[olivermagnus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ma and Pa Ingalls and their three children, Laura, Mary, and baby Carrie are packing their wagon, leaving behind the Big Woods of Wisconsin, and heading out to Indian country.

Along the way the Ingalls family experience a dramatic wagon crossing, build a house, confront Indians many times, succumb to fever, and have one very special Christmas with a new neighbor. A sense of community is forged and the isolation of pioneer life shines against the good nature of fellow settlers and even the Indians, who often prove more compassionate and wise than Laura is able to truly understand.

The characters who populate these books are drawn from Wilder's own family and neighbors, including her sisters Mary, Carrie and Grace, pastor Reverend Alden, and detestable schoolmate, Nellie Oleson. Though rooted in Wilder's experiences, the books are not strict autobiography. Viewpoints in this book are taken from a settler’s perspective during the 1800s. Indians are viewed with fear and sometimes contempt.

It's always interesting reading a favorite book from your childhood.

[fingerpost_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

With Laura Ingalls Wilder's third book in the Little House series, she discovers the concepts of plot and story. Unlike "Little House in the Big Woods" and "Farmer Boy," both of which were sort of how-to manuals for survival in the early 19th century, things actually happen in this best known of her books. Young Laura's family moves out to Indian Territory in a covered wagon to set up a homestead. They face troubles with illness, fire, wild animals, and Native Americans. The portrayal of the Native Americans is the book's downfall. Though not 100% negative, it leans heavily in the negative direction. It is hard to read phrases like, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian," without that casting a heavy cloud over the rest of the book.