This is a comprehensive reading list of Laura Ingalls Wilder's works, designed for the discerning reader. It includes her classic novels alongside candid personal letters, and early writings like her autobiography, Pioneer Girl. Critical analyses offer new insights into the historical and cultural complexities of her life and books, providing a richer, more detailed understanding of the author and her times.
Pamela Smith Hill delves into Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House novels, closely examining text, characters, and stories to reveal how the books forever changed the literary landscape of children's and young adult literature in ways that remain…
Prairie Fires is a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser. It reveals the harsher reality of Wilder's life, showing how she transformed her family's poverty and struggle into the nostalgic, uplifting tales of the…
Editor Nancy Tystad Koupal has collected essays from noted scholars of Wilder's life and work that explore the themes and genesis of Wilder's writings. Pioneer Girl Perspectives sheds new light on the story behind Wilder's original manuscript and…
In this revealing exploration of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s deep connection with the natural world, Marta McDowell follows the wagon trail of the beloved Little House series. You’ll learn details about Wilder’s life and inspirations, pinpoint the…
Drawing on original manuscripts and letters, Woodside shows how Rose reshaped her mother's story into a series of heroic tales that rebutted the policies of the New Deal. Their secret collaboration would lead in time to their estrangement. This…
Hidden away since the 1930s, Laura Ingalls Wilder s never-before-published autobiography reveals the true stories of her pioneering life. Some of her experiences will be familiar; some will be a surprise. Pioneer Girl re-introduces readers to the…
Before Laura Ingalls Wilder found fame with her Little House books, she made a name for herself with short nonfiction pieces in magazines and newspapers. Read today, these pieces offer insight into her development as a writer and depict farm life in…
Going beyond previous studies, Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder focuses upon Wilder's years in Missouri from 1894 to 1957. Utilizing her unpublished autobiography, letters, newspaper stories, and other documentary evidence, John E. Miller fills the…
Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the beloved Little House series, crossed the country by covered wagon, by train, and by car. Here, Laura's writings from three of her most memorable journeys have been collected in one special volume.
On the Way Home…
This beloved story of a pioneer girl and her family begins in 1871 in a log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. Four-year-old Laura lives in the little house with her Pa, her Ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and their dog, Jack. Pioneer…
Almanzo Wilder lives on a big farm in New York State. Here Almanzo and his brother and sisters help with the summer planting and fall harvest. In winter there is wood to be chopped and great slabs of ice to be cut from the river and stored. Time for…
Laura and her family leave their little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin and set out for the big skies of the Kansas Territory. They travel for many days in their covered wagon until they find the best spot to build their house. Soon they are…
Laura and her family leave the prairie and travel in their covered wagon to Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Here they settle in a new home made of sod beside the banks of Plum Creek. Soon Pa builds a wonderful new little house with real glass windows.…
Laura Ingalls and her family move from the banks of Plum Creek to the wilderness of the unsettled Dakota Territory. Here Pa works on the new railroad until he finds a homestead claim that is perfect for their new home. Laura takes her first train…
The town of De Smet in the Dakota Territory is hit with terrible blizzards in the hard winter of 1880-81, and the Ingalls family must ration their food and coal. When the supply train doesn't arrive, all supplies are cut off from the outside. Soon…
The settlement that weathered the long, hard winter of 1880-81 is now a growing town. With spring comes a new job for Laura, town parties, and more time to spend with Almanzo. Laura also tries to help Pa and Ma save money so that Mary is able to go…
Fifteen-year-old Laura lives apart from her family for the first time, teaching school in a claim shanty twelve miles from home. She is very homesick, but she knows that her earnings can help pay for her sister Mary's tuition at the college for the…
Laura and Almanzo Wilder have just been married. Their life on a small prairie homestead begins with high hopes. But each year seems to bring unexpected disasters--storms, sickness, fire, and unpaid debts. These first four years call for courage,…
