The Long Winter: Little House, Book 6

The Long Winter: Little House, Book 6 by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Father looks at muskrats building a stronger home and suspects that it will be a long, cold Dakota winter. All other animals seem to have fled away. A local Indian says this is a once in 21 year winter. The first storm comes in October. It is cold. People move from shanties to town. Things get colder and worse. The trains cannot get there, despite valiant efforts by the train men.  As soon as they get some track cleared, they get stuck elsewhere. Christmas occurs, but it is in a subdued form. People are resourceful with what they have, but it is not easy. It is extremely difficult to travel in the snow. At one point they see a heard of animals, but one man fires too early, scaring them off.  Eventually some boys make a long trip away to try to bargain with a man that supposedly has wheat. This ends up being enough to make it through the last bit before the trains come.

People in this time were becoming less fully independent and relying more on an integrated economy. How much worse would it be if a bad series of storms separated out a community today for an entire winter?

The First Four Years

The First Four Years: Little House, Book 9 by Laura Ingalls Wilder

This final book in the Little House series was published many years after the author died. The manuscript was found and published with minal editing. It does seem to be shorter than the other books in the series. They are living out on the prairie. It is not an easy life. Something seems to happen right about the time they are going to harvest, such as a hailstorm that destroys just about everything. They have a daughter, and later a son, but he doesn't live long. They work hard in the confines of the US regulations for land claims. There are some relationships with other people and Indians, but the biggest challenge is with mother nature. This one is shorter than other books in the series.

These Happy Golden Years

These Happy Golden Years: Little House, Book 8 by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I would always turn off the TV when Little House on the Prairie came on. The books, however, are much better. This one tells the story of the author's courtship and marriage. It starts with her accepting a short term winter teaching assignment at a school a dozen miles away. She is a teenager in school herself, barely a few years older than the pupils she is teaching. The family she is boarding with are constantly quarrelling, making the thought of spending weekends with them even more foreboding. She dreams of her dad coming to take her home for the weekend. He doesn't come, but a boy comes instead. He drives the horses through the cold and snow every weekend to bring her back. This boy would later become her wife. There are plenty of other things that happen between the two of them and among other friends and family, with the eventual culmination of their marriage. Though the customs and values are of the 19th century, the feelings and emotions are very similar to those of today.

Little House on the Prairie: Little House, Book 3

Little House on the Prairie: Little House, Book 3 by Laura Ingalls Wilder

A family moves out from Wisconsin to the edge of Indian country. They build up their house, even getting windows. They have challenges of the frontier with various animals, diseases and weather. There is high water river during Christmas, so the kids are afraid they will not see Santa Clause. However, a friend manages to wade through the river and bring presents. (He says he ran in to Santa in Independence and offered to bring them.)

There are various opinions of the Indians in the region. Some people want them dead or out of there. Father, however, wants them to remain friends. They learn their house is along an active Indian trail. Indians will sometimes come in and be fed or take things. The family is somewhat reluctantly friendly, even though they can't communicate. One time father sees signs of a panther and spends days trying to hate him. He meets an Indian who signs to him that he had killed the beast. 

There is a big Indian meeting. They learn that the Indians had talked about fighting the settlers, but then some Indians convinced them not to. They later learn that they are living a few miles within Indian country. The government will not defend them and would like for them to move. The family decides that they will move before being forced out.

It is an interesting look at the frontier development and the relationships involved. There is both a fascination with Indians (one girl wants an Indian baby) and a fear of them (some want them eliminated so they can settle the area.) The relationships are complicated. In spite of this, they have some rather peaceable relationships that can benefit everyone.