Favorite Laura Ingalls Wilder Books

Will a high-tech generation of kids even want to read books written about a time before electricity, WalMarts and malls?

I think so! I think there are many kids nowadays who might read these stories and wish they had a closer relationship with their parents, the way it was possible to be before so many electronic distractions. Family members now can be in the same room, but texting and talking to people they barely know. The characters in these books had a tough life compared to ours, but they worked together through the rough times and shared and laughed through the good.

I read the first three of these books to my own daughters when they were young. Children love bedtime stories and sharing this special time with whoever is reading, plus they open up an opportunity for conversation, discussing and comparing the differences in the ways of life.

There was something about these books that draws you into the people in them. It's important for children to realize what life was like in the beginnings their country, that their country was built by the strength and resolve of these early settlers. Back when people lived off the land, thier own ingenuity, and the things they made. These are stories illustrating the strength, values and love of family and friends. These weren't books of fiction, they were based on real-life events that happened around Laura Elizabeth Ingalls, starting when she was four years old.

My favorite books take place when Laura is younger, so I've only included five here.

(The photo of Laura Ingalls Wilder is public domain at Wikimedia Commons)

This is the first book in the series of Little House books. It begins in Wisconsin when Laura is only four years old, where she lives in a little log cabin in the woods with her Ma and Pa, two sisters, and her dog, Jack. There are many things to do and even though she's very young, Laura has chores she's expected to contribute to prepare for winter. There's the planting and harvesting of crops, a rare trip to town, and Christmas with visiting cousins where she gets a doll she names Charlotte. It's a hard life, with simple pleasures.

Many people think they are familiar with this book since it was made famous by the TV series of the same name. But the difference is in the book, after Pa moves the family from their log cabin in Wisconsin and travel in the covered wagon to homestead a new home on the prairie, there is always the threat of Indians and eventually they are forced by the government to leave their new farm, as they've settled on Indian territory. That's the background story while Laura has adventures of her own on the plains of Kansas, and the family tries to farm their land. She's more curious about the Indians than the grown-ups who better understand the potential danger. There are a lot of issues in this book parents can discuss with their children concerning issues of land ownership and the two culture classes.

To me, this is the book in which "The Little House on the Prairie" TV show featured. Here, Laura is seven to nine. Having been forced to leave their prairie home in Kansas, they travel once more in their covered wagon to Minnesota. Pa trades their two horses in exchange for a sod house and then begin building a wooden home. Finally Laura and Mary are able to go to school, and it's here they meet the shop keepers snooty daughter, Nellie Oleson.

This time, restless Pa has moved his family from Minnesota to Dakota territory. This book takes place during the year Laura was 12. There is still fun for Laura, her first ride on a train and a horse, plus an adventure at night involving a wolf. But this was a more serious book, the family has been sick and Laura's sister, Mary, is now blind. Warning - the beloved dog, Jack, dies. Life is changing rapidly with the advent of the railroad trains. The Ingalls family are among the first settlers there and Pa finally begins building the first building from leftover railroad lumber and the beginning of what will be the town DeSmet, along the shores of Silver Lake.

What I love about these books, is these were real people, a real family, in real, findable places and many of the things Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about, really happened, either to her, or people she heard of.

I think that's what makes these stories so special, we can feel the simplicity of just a tale being told of people forging a life and values we inherited.

This was based on the true story of a seven month winter Laura and her family endured, The people in the town are dependent on the supply trains but the trains are snowed in, and the people in the town were starting to starve and freeze with no food or fuel. Hearing there might be food, two brave young men hike 20 miles away to try to save the town. There are snowball fights and a late Christmas after all.

This book is an obvious choice for a boy to read although it's a great story for girls reading the "Little House" series, and can be read anywhere within these early Little House books. They are some of the stories that happened with Laura's future husband, Almanzo Wilder when he was a young boy. He has a busy life of farm chores, but enjoys the fair and the peddler when they come to town, and he loves being around the horses he hopes to train some day.