La piccola casa nella prateria (1935)

Loved every moment of this! Little House on the Prairie has got to be the sweetest story ever told! Full review to come. ( )

"A family travels from the big woods of Wisconsin to a new home on the prairie, where they build a house, meet neighboring Indians, build a well, and fight a prairie fire."

After I finshed Little house in the woods I didn't think would take the bother of reading this but i am glad i did! It Is more than a story it is history! The story and life of pioneer girls. And all there friends! ( )

I had forgotten a lot about this book but it has been 30 years since I read it the first time. The boys enjoyed it very much. The writing style is perfect for reading out loud. There were suspensefull parts where the boys were worried about what was going to happen and lots of opportunities for learning about life 150 years ago. I enjoyed revisting this book. ( )

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. ( )