Little House in the Big Woods (Little House, 1)

I have read and reread these beloved books several times in my life. First time in the first grade, then again at different milestones throughout my teen and young adult years. It is this reading in my middle age, that I think has been my favorite. Winter has arrived in earnest, and their is a fire once again in the wood stove across the room from my favorite reading chair, in the old family farmhouse. It dawned on me that my love of these books has come full circle. It was a night just like this 43 years ago that I read " Little House in the Big Woods" for the first time, and I am so glad I did, because reading it again has truly made me feel that I am home again. I encourage any parent or guardian to give this same gift to any child in their lives who loves to read, or who needs encouraged to read. Who knows maybe they will need to feel the warmth and safety of childhood again at some future date like I did tonight.

This book's text is exactly like the original. The quality is great. Pages are thick and glossy and the illustrations are bright and colored in. I recommend this book to every age!

Generally a good book, but there are long stretches that my daughter (5yo) found boring, where it goes on and on about clothing or hair for example. Also, this was written a long time ago, so there are some parts I had to skip, like this: "The storekeeper said to Pa and Ma, 'That's a pretty little girl you've got there,' and he admired Mary's golden curls. Be he did not say anything about Laura, or about her curls. They were ugly and brown." There are also mild racial slurs.

The story is great,but the audio CD is not so good due to the annoying reader. She reads as though addressing toddlers, talking down to her audience, over emphasizing words, and generally sounding like a fool.

This is the first in the Little House series, and what I find interesting about it is that it seems to be written from the perspective of a young child...her books "grow" with the reads. If reading as an adult, don't let the childlike writing discourage you from finishing the entire series. I loved them all as a child, and enjoy also reading them as an adult.

Laura Ingalls Wilder used such vivid description in her stories that it is easy to imagine exactly what it was like for her during the year described in this story. My wife fondly recalled reading these stories in her childhood and I decided to get the books for her as a Christmas gift this past Christmas. We have taken turns reading the stories aloud to each other. We have greatly enjoyed the descriptions of how the Ingalls family was so resourceful, using what was available to make what they needed, such as straw hats after harvesting their wheat or oats. Back when my own great grand mother was alive, she would share how much she enjoyed watching the Little House series when it was on television, as it reminded her of her own childhood. We just finished the Big Woods book and have now moved on to Farmer Boy.

It is a great book as written by the author. The print is lacking.I am not sure if this is just my copy or all the copies. However, it looks like they lined the printing up at the very top of the page, leaving a big gap at the bottom. Its a good read at a great price. It just looks like the quality control at the printers is not great. All the words are there. So, if you don't mind the unbalanced page visual, its fine. Whether I buy a book for $6 or $50, I just expect a good product... not perfect, but good.

I bought this book for my granddaughter who is a third-grader and a bookworm. I read this in third or fourth grade, along with the others available, with my best friend. We still keep in contact and still love Laura Ingalls Wilder. I've read the series a few times as an adult and still love it.This edition is a special collectible one, printed on good quality paper with color pictures and with a sturdy cover that is shiny and colorful. I hope that this book can compete with 21st century superheroes, iPhone technology, and glitzy kids' TV shows to bring enjoyment and wonder to one little girl about another girl who lived in a different century. Very pleased with this purchase.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.  My 9 year old grandson was a slow starter with reading but The Little House on the Prairie" and its sequels have really caught his imagination. These are stories that a child can put themselves in. The vocabulary is not too hard for him to read the books himself and the type is big enough for him. He is getting through the series rapidly so we did not know which one would be a safe bet for Christmas. This one though is a prequel and he's not read it and is not likely to ask for it before Christmas so it was a safe option for us to buy for him. The books have a good amount of plot content but are not too long so Ideal for bedtime reading.I think I might have to start reading this series myself.

Children should really enjoy this tale, which I think in the US is a set text, and the story is based on Laura’s own life and experiences. Although of course most of us are familiar with the TV series ‘Little House on the Prairie’ this story here takes us back to even earlier days, when the Ingalls family lived in Wisconsin, near Pepin.We have here mum and dad, Laura, and her sister Mary, who all live in a log cabin in the woods, and are to an extent quite isolated, although as we read here, there are family visits, and they do go into town, as father helps out at harvest time.Although not the best written book you will come across this has always been popular in America, and it is easy to see why. We have a tale of a little girl and thus what children get up to and we can see what the parents have to do, with looking after their animals and for the father, hunting. The seasons play a big part in what happens, as the family to a certain extent start to stay more indoors during the winter, and they have to contend more with wolves approaching their land.With insights into what sort of chores had to be done, how people had to use what was around them and make do as well as they could, this reminds us of the pioneering spirit and how more people in this sort of period had to know and cope with things that nowadays we would call people in to do for us or go down the shops to buy. With regards to this latter point so this gives older readers an understanding of the period and social history. This book does include the great illustrations by Garth Williams.

This book is a great classic of children's literature, but this edition is missing some of the pictures that I vividly remember from the edition I had as a child, which is such a shame. This is the first chapter book I ever read all the way through on my own. I read it at age 6, and without the engaging pictures I might have been too intimidated to try reading it. They really helped keep me plugging away at it, and when I reached the end (very quickly!) a bookworm was born. This edition might not charm today's emerging readers in the same way. There is no picture of playing with the pig's bladder balloon, no picture of Laura cradling her Christmas doll, no picture of Laura's aunts dressing up for the dance. Many of the small margin illustrations of objects and tools that were used in pioneer life are also missing. This is not advertised as an abridged edition so I am disappointed to find that so many of the original illustrations, which are all delightful, have been left out.

I read this book and several of it successors as a child in the 1970s, but it is nice to re-read them as an adult with a different perspective. It is a perspective on a lifestyle very different from anything we have experienced, where Laura and her sisters, Pa and Ma live in the log house in the middle of nowhere, with very few interactions beyond occasional visits to and from various uncles, aunts and cousins, living their lives according to the seasons and the dictates of nature, and growing or making most of what they need to live. It provides a welcome contrast and escape from current reality. These editions are beautifully illustrated with the original Garth Williams illustrations.

This is technically a reread as I read the first 3 (Laura-based) books of this series as a child.Just like in my childhood I fell straight in love with the story. It is very simplistic to me now, but it is a superb world-building/setting describing book. The descriptions are rich and detailed so you can really imagine what it was like at that time; the weather, where they lived, the food they ate and the big store.My children will definitely be reading these!