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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
50 Yrs later I’m finally finishing this series! I re-read the Long Winter and Little Town on the Prairie because that’s where I left off when I was in 4th or 5th grade. On the Little Town book I realized why I stopped reading - because of the whole minstrel thing.
Original review: 4 stars. 2021 review: I got choked up so many times. Almanzo, what a guy. I’m looking for my Almanzo...anyone know a guy?
I grown to love this series very much. These happy golden years did not disappoint. The development of Laura and the Ingall’s family is a beautiful one to be treasured for centuries. Im sure these will be a reread for me many times in my life.
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
What a nostalgic ending!! (not fully acknowledging The First Four Years)
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this after visiting De Smet, and it was so lovely to be able to fix this unabashedly romantic YA novel firmly in its real-life location. On our last day in South Dakota we drove all around the lakes – Spirit Lake and Lakes Thompson and Henry – and out to the former tree claim where Laura and Almanzo’s first home was, and so in reading this book I was able to take a little nostalgia trip of my own, following the paths of their buggy rides.
I love Laura and Almanzo’s courtship (which is really what this book is about). He is so patient and so determined, and in some way, though he’s the older and more worldly of the two of them, he’s more shy. And Laura really takes her time figuring out whether or not they are right for each other (Almanzo seems pretty sure all along). Late in the book when Mary asks her, “Do you really want to leave home to marry that Wilder boy?” Laura protests, “He isn’t that Wilder boy any more, Mary. He is Almanzo… I guess it’s because we just seem to belong together.” She means that.
Other notes:
-- I love Laura’s joy when she comes home from the Brewster School for the first time - I love appreciating her loving, cheerful, practical family in a way that even she herself has never appreciated it before, and her own sober realization about how lucky she is.
-- Yeah, so, this book, along with Lloyd Alexander’s [b:The High King|24781|The High King (The Chronicles of Prydain #5)|Lloyd Alexander|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1407209964s/24781.jpg|1561725], Alan Garner’s [b:The Weirdstone of Brisingamen|694997|The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (Tales of Alderley, #1)|Alan Garner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1177345171s/694997.jpg|279305], and JRR Tolkien’s [b:The Fellowship of the Ring|34|The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1298411339s/34.jpg|3204327] are the books that taught me – before I hit my teens - all about the human body’s reactions to cold and the dangers and symptoms of freezing to death.
-- OH! I forgot about Laura going to live with the McKees one summer to help them hold down their claim. They take the train to Manchester SD. It is seven miles to the west of De Smet. We went there, too, on our trip. The ENTIRE TOWN was destroyed by a tornado in 2003. There is literally nothing left but a mangled railway sign, a memorial, and “the fabled town pump” which miraculously survived. It is officially classified as a Ghost Town.
(Wikipedia entry about Manchester SD)
(Yeah, video footage of THAT TORNADO by seriously insane storm spotters. This thing is HALF A MILE WIDE and they are like 100 yards away from it.)
-- Anyone born since about 1920 has SERIOUSLY MISSED OUT ON THE PLEASURES OF SLEIGH RIDING. Damn it.
Best quotation in this book:
The wind was blowing, but not too hard, and everyone was so happy and gay for it was only twenty degrees below zero and the sun shone.