A review by bonniereads777
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

5.0

I've read this book many times. The most recent date is after I read it on Kindle for the first time. It's always been my favorite in the series. The reason I like it so much is that it shows how pioneers survived under extreme conditions, and how people and towns sacrificed for each other. It also describes Christmas as it should be: few gifts but lots of love and thankfulness. And the gifts they gave were given from self sacrifice and received with great appreciation. It wasn't about how much money you could spend. We have lost something in the age of technology and prosperity. This book reminds me of that.

EDIT 7/7/20: My most recent reading of The Long Winter was an audiobook. Here is my review.


This is my favorite Laura Ingalls Wilder book. It tells of the Ingalls struggles through a difficult winter where storms continued to hit and trains couldn’t get through. It captures the ingenuity and fortitude of the pioneers as they struggle to find food and heat their homes with blizzards raging outside and no supplies coming in.

The narration by Cherry Jones is great. What I love about this performance is when the Ingalls are singing songs, the narrator actually sings them. And when Pa is playing the fiddle, there is real fiddle music.

This is not just a beloved children’s series. It is American history, and a must read for anyone curious as to how the pioneers survived.