The story, at this juncture, is more about atmosphere and establishing character. There are many sequences concentrated on Pa’s hunting adventures and the butchering of animals in preparation for the long winter. Little House in the Big Woods is more concentrated on the cozy aspect of a hard working life and oscillates between describing the hard manual labor of Laura’s and her family’s life and the rewards of family time, the festivities of Maple gathering, and the joys of handmade Christmas presents. Other books in the series approach more difficult themes: danger on the Prairie, death, hardship, poverty, etc.

This is before the family begins to move farther west, and depicts the harsh winters with their beautiful yet perilous snow falls the trials of gathering food and hunting the joys of visiting relatives the treasure of Pa’s fiddle and singing by the fire and above all the wonder at life as seen through a child’s eyes. The story starts with a very young Laura who lives in a cabin in the Big Woods near Lake Pepin, Wisconsin. Little House in the Big Woods is the first novel in the series (which is actually quite autobiographical – but let’s not nitpick over genre just yet). The story is told from the prospective of Laura, the middle daughter, who loves playing with her corncob doll, thrills to her Pa’s stories of the wild woods, and is quite a bit jealous of her older sister with the golden curls. I, of course, caved to nostalgia and bought it.Īs pretty much everyone knows, the Little House series begins in 1871 and contains the sometimes desperate, often cozy, stories of a pioneer family as they live off the land and move westward with the rush. Prowling through Barnes and Noble with the boyfriend, swearing I would buy nothing, I ran into a lovely leather bound edition including the first give novels in the series along with original artwork by Garth Williams. Memories almost as old as myself have me tucked in bed, with my mother reading of Laura and Mary’s adventures (and later Rose’s) and cross-country moves had me snuggled in hotel beds taking advantage of that wondrous cable to watch the adaption mini-series. The Little House books, and the many series and prequels that followed, were a staple of my childhood.

Little house books in order