Laura Ingalls Wilder poll: What is your favorite Little House book?

[clairecloutier]

It seems like there are quite a few Laura Ingalls Wilder fans here! So, I thought I'd do a poll. What is your favorite book from the Little House series? And why?

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

It is easier to say I didn't like the one about her husband and marriage than anything else. They felt really detached from the rest of the series. I also as a child wished for happy endings and those didn't quite fit.

I loved the first book, I remember exactly when I read it - I was 4 and a half and my mom told me to leave her alone - she was still sleeping. So I grabbed it off her shelf and sat on the floor in her room and opened it. I realized that I could read (I had learned letters and sounds from my mom reading to me and Sesame Street). I remember the feeling of breaking a code and yelling to my mom that I could read and read it to her and she was unimpressed and told me to leave her alone again.

So I sat and read the first few chapters. I loved reading ever since. Anyway, I loved it because it was an ideal family. A brave father who played with his kids, a mother who was kind and took care of things without falling apart, imperfect siblings you loved and were jealous of, a story of simple joys that I never experienced - snow, sitting on pumpkins in an attic, playing with a pig's bladder ball, maple syrup time. I remember feeling so badly when they left family and friends and their snug little home to ente the unknown.

I moved lots as a child so I could relate to Laura and entering the unknown. Knowing she was okay made me feel okay.

 

[quartz]

Plum Creek. I know I read that one more than the others. Can't remember why. It's been over forty years since I read it! Silver Lake was second favorite.

 

[ArtisticFan]

Hard to answer. I love On the Banks of Plum Creek because it is the image of LIW that I could most picture. Her age in that book was just perfect for the time I read it. As a child I would have wanted to be friends with her at that age.

Little Town on the Prairie was another that I truly enjoyed. There were many great stories in that, including taking on Eliza Jane Wilder, which was a favorite part of mine.

These Happy Golden Years was another that I liked with the story of how Laura and Almanzo went from barely knowing each other to husband and wife. There was just such a simplicity about that and LIW's way of telling the story made it very relatable, as she writes of not truly understanding that he was interested in her at all. It is also remarkable how driven and determined she was at such a young age to be able teach, study for herself, etc. I remember when I read this one and Little Town on the Prairie that I had to keep reminding myself that she was only 15/16 for most of these stories. Perhaps it was because she wrote them later in life and was long since a grown woman, there is a maturity to her in the books that stood out to me.

The First Four Years was not as good as the others, but I sincerely think that was because it was an abandoned project that did not get the same treatment as the others. Since they were written as children's books, writing about the first years of marriage isn't something that comes across as well.

 

[gkelly]

Hard to answer. I love On the Banks of Plum Creek because it is the image of LIW that I could most picture. Her age in that book was just perfect for the time I read it.

Ditto. Also, there were more characters in that book to interact with each other than in the earlier books, which were mostly just about the family and the wilderness.

 

[made_in_canada]

I love On the Banks of Plum Creek because it is the image of LIW that I could most picture. Her age in that book was just perfect for the time I read it. As a child I would have wanted to be friends with her at that age.

I think that was why it was always my favourite too. Though I have a soft spot for Little House in the Big Woods because it was the first chapter book I ever read and I remember feeling quite proud of myself for reading it without help. That one was also relatable because I grew up in a rural area surrounded by forest and the stories of bears and wildlife were easy for me to picture.

 

[dewey]

Plum Creek when I was little, but now The Long Winter amazes me!

ETA: In Pioneer Girl, I learned that there was another family living with them during the Long Winter, but Laura left them out because they complicated the story too much.

 

[judiz]

Hard to choose but I think Little Town was my favorite

 

[danceronice]

Tough call between Plum Creek and The Long Winter but I went with The Long Winter.

 

[skatemomaz]

Little Town on the Prairie but a shout out to Farmer Boy. I loved the descriptions of Almanzo's farm life.

 

[Simone411]

I had to go with Little House in the Big Woods. My 5th grade teacher in elementary school would set aside 30 minutes each Friday to read aloud from the book. The whole class looked forward to that. Years later, I read all the books. It was Little House in the Big Woods that made me a fan, and I always watched Little House on the Prairie because of it.

Confession: I still watch it sometimes when I catch it on the Hallmark Channel or INSP. I love it a lot better than some of the shows that are on now. When my great nieces come with my brother to visit, they check to see if Little House on the Prairie is on. They can't stand Nellie Oleson!

 

[ArtisticFan]

Little Town on the Prairie but a shout out to Farmer Boy. I loved the descriptions of Almanzo's farm life.

I wasn't in the US when I read this one, but I remember the confusion I had over it. My knowledge of New York was just about NYC. So I had a hard time reconciling in my mind that there was a rural area to New York even in that time period.

 

[Erin]

I picked These Happy Golden Years, but it was really a tough call between that one and Little Town on the Prairie. The parts I love about LTOTP were the feeling of community and the friends that Laura made - my favorite stories were about the parties, the "whirl of gaiety" chapter, the name cards, and the scenes with Almanzo. THGY has a lot of the same kind of stuff, with my favorite parts being Almanzo driving her home from school, the sleighing parties and buggy rides, and the sense of how Laura has really grown up. I also love the sense in THGY that the family has found success at last, although it makes what happens afterwards in The First Four Years even sadder. Anyway, that aside, I also like the progression of the later books, that the books have slightly more mature themes as Laura gets older.

I should also note that LTOTP has one of my favorite life lessons in it, courtesy of Ma - "Least said, soonest mended" (my one exception to that rule of thumb is if an apology is necessary, one should obviously be made, but aside from that it has been rather effective)

 

[danceronice]

I wasn't in the US when I read this one, but I remember the confusion I had over it. My knowledge of New York was just about NYC. So I had a hard time reconciling in my mind that there was a rural area to New York even in that time period.

Heh, some people STILL are like that. (There's a reason a lot of Upstate really doesn't like NYC...) I liked Farmer Boy, but I think I read it as an older teen or adult--as a little kid I only read the "Laura" books, and of course I only liked Laura, not Mary, because Mary was blonde! I do like LHitBW, too, since it was the first one I read and I probably read it the most. I love the hog-butchering chapter even though I know now I would not want to play with a pigs' bladder like that! Still curious on the tail and if we do keep to the five-year plan at work and get pigs for the farmhouse I'm insisting we cook the tail to see if it turns crispy! I even used Ma's butter-churning description to try and yellow-dye homemade butter for a school program.

 

[Coco]

"Draw the broom, Laura. Don't flip it."

 

[CassAgain]

I loved Farmer Boy--I read it again and again, mostly in appreciation for the endless descriptions of the elaborate meals.

The Long Winter is a close second.

 

[Lucy25]

Little Town. For so many reason's. I would read it over and over.

 

[Moto Guzzi]

I grew up about 30 miles from the original little house on the prairie. It is not 40 miles from Independence, KS, as Laura wrote in her book; it's more like 14 miles away.

 

[Skittl1321]

Little Town. I also love Happy Golden Years.

Although when I was young it was Plum Creek.

As I child I loved reading about her childhood. As an adult I love the stories of her coming to age.

As a kid long winter was the hardest to slog through...but now I feel that about Big Woods. Of course, First Four Years suffers as it was published without being really complete, IIRC

I also like the Rose series, though they are even more fiction than Laura's are. I should pull all the books out and read them again.

 

[Skittl1321]

I should also note that LTOTP has one of my favorite life lessons in it, courtesy of Ma - "Least said, soonest mended" (my one exception to that rule of thumb is if an apology is necessary, one should obviously be made, but aside from that it has been rather effective)

My favorite saying is "Enough is as good as a feast" but I also try to use "make hay while the sun shines" as often as possible.

My mother also thought she hit the jackpot the year I swore all I wanted for Christmas was an orange. It's hard to imagine a world where a kid would feel a cup all for themselves is a massive gift.

 

[Habs]

I loved them all and read them over and over again as a kid. This thread makes me want to read them all again. I think my box set of Little House books are at my parents' house... I'll have to look!

 

[Bunny Hop]

Really tough call. Eventually went for Plum Creek, as this was the one I read most as a child, but Little Town on the Prairie is almost equal first, followed by These Happy Golden Years. Each book has some really memorable incidents, so it's hard to choose between them.

I read the Little House books over and over again as a child and in my early teens, and my copies really show signs of being well read. I'm considering buying a new set and reading them again. I also recently ordered Pioneer Girl and can't wait to have time to read it (may have to make time) - I've only had a chance to look at the pictures so far.

I should also note that LTOTP has one of my favorite life lessons in it, courtesy of Ma - "Least said, soonest mended" (my one exception to that rule of thumb is if an apology is necessary, one should obviously be made, but aside from that it has been rather effective)

This! I've refered back to that particular piece of advice many times over the years.

 

[Kasey]

You all convinced me to just order the 9-book set from Ebay for the twins

 

[Erin]

My favorite saying is "Enough is as good as a feast" but I also try to use "make hay while the sun shines" as often as possible.

Yeah, I use "make hay while the sun shines" a lot too! There are lots of other good ones too, but I'm having a hard time bringing them to mind

 

[judiz]

Confession: When I was younger I really hated Mary because she was such a goody two shoes.

 

[quartz]

Confession: When I was younger I really hated Mary because she was such a goody two shoes.

So did I!
Well, actually, goody-goodies still piss me off.

 

[barbk]

Really tough call. Eventually went for Plum Creek, as this was the one I read most as a child, but Little Town on the Prairie is almost equal first, followed by These Happy Golden Years. Each book has some really memorable incidents, so it's hard to choose between them.

I read the Little House books over and over again as a child and in my early teens, and my copies really show signs of being well read. I'm considering buying a new set and reading them again. I also recently ordered Pioneer Girl and can't wait to have time to read it (may have to make time) - I've only had a chance to look at the pictures so far.

This! I've refered back to that particular piece of advice many times over the years.

Plum Creek is the one that is most memorable for me.

Do I get bonus points because I went and visited the replica Little House in the Big Woods in Pepin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_House_Wayside after Minneapolis Worlds in '98?

 

[ballettmaus]

So did I!
Well, actually, goody-goodies still piss me off.

Same! As Hugh Grant's character says in Two Weeks Notice, "Saints are boring". And personally, I also find them irritating

 

[falling_dance]

In Mary's defense, she did own up to it in one of the later books (LTOTP?).

Speaking of Little Town, Miss Wilder was horrible.

 

[Habs]

So did I!
Well, actually, goody-goodies still piss me off.

I'm sorry.