Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
"Little Town on the Prairie" by Laura Ingalls Wilder is the sixth installment in her semi-autobiographical series that chronicles her childhood experiences in the late 19th century American frontier. The story begins with Laura and her family emerging from a harsh winter, filled with renewed joy as spring arrives. Laura takes on a job as a seamstress, which brings her both challenges and rewards, as she contributes her earnings to help fund her sister Mary's college education for the blind. The narrative also explores Laura's school life, including the dynamics with her teacher and classmates, particularly Nellie Oleson, who creates tension in the classroom.
As the seasons change, the story captures the vibrancy of community events, including church sociables and Friday night literaries, which serve to enrich Laura's social life. Throughout the book, Laura navigates the ups and downs of adolescence, making friends, and developing a budding romance with Almanzo Wilder. The novel is noteworthy for its realistic portrayal of pioneer life and the perspective of a child, appealing to both young readers and adults alike. "Little Town on the Prairie" ultimately forms part of a larger narrative arc about Laura's growth and experiences, leading into the subsequent books in the series.
Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
First published: 1941; illustrated
Type of work: Historical fiction
Themes: Coming-of-age, education, family, and jobs and work
Time of work: The early 1880’s
Recommended Ages: 10-13
Locale: DeSmet, South Dakota (Dakota Territory)
Principal Characters:
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls , a generous, intelligent, hardworking fourteen-year-old girlMary Ingalls , Laura’s beautiful elder sister, blinded by scarlet fever when the family lived at Plum CreekCarrie Ingalls , Laura’s kind and helpful ten-year-old sisterGrace Ingalls , the youngest of the four sistersCaroline Ingalls (MA) , the watchful, serious, proverb-loving mother of the family, once a schoolteacherCharles Ingalls (PA) , a strong, good-natured farmer with a ready wit and many surprising talentsAlmanzo Wilder , a young man of Pa’s acquaintance, much admired by the young ladies for his team of Morgan horsesMiss Eliza Wilder , Almanzo’s sister, who comes to teach school in DeSmetNellie Oleson , a conceited girl Laura’s age whom Laura came to dislike several years before in Plum Creek
The Story
At the beginning of Little Town on the Prairie, Laura and her family have just gotten over a hard winter, and Laura is overcome with joy when spring comes. She loves her family very much and enjoys the busy days on the homestead claim. One day Pa asks her if she wants a job as a seamstress. She takes the job, and she must walk to town daily and baste shirts. The family for whom she works is so impolite that it is hard for Laura to adjust to them. After six weeks, Mrs. White gives her nine dollars. She happily gives her earnings to Ma so that they can be added to the family fund to send her sister Mary to a special college for the blind in Iowa.
Carrie and Laura must also go to school. The teacher, Miss Wilder, promises Laura and two friends her age, Mary and Minnie, back seats on the girls’ side. Yet when snobby Nellie Oleson demands a seat in the back, the teacher tells Mary and Minnie to move. Soon, Nellie is trying to become the teacher’s pet. Laura’s father is on the school board, and Nellie speaks against him to Miss Wilder. When discipline in the schoolroom declines, Miss Wilder blames the Ingalls girls. Once Carrie and her friend do not notice that they are rocking their seat; the teacher makes Carrie keep rocking it alone. Carrie turns pale, and so Laura takes over the punishment. Laura rocks the seat so hard that no one can study. Miss Wilder sends both girls home early. Laura now hates the teacher underneath, but she must not show it. Finally the school board intervenes. Miss Wilder lies in front of the class and blames all misbehavior on Laura. Nevertheless, the students begin to behave again, and Laura’s father helps her understand why Nellie has been spiteful.
A friend invites Laura to a church “sociable,” and she finds it boring. All she does is sit and eat a slice of cake. Just when life seems dull to Laura, the town begins to hold Friday night “literaries,” or entertainments. First there is a spelling bee, then a wax works, and then a musical concert. Now winter life is busy: school during the week, literaries on Friday, and church on Sunday. As if all of this were not enough, a boy Laura’s age invites her to his birthday party, at which she tastes new foods and each guest gets a whole orange. After this, the older girls and boys in the school are always busy joking and playing games together.
Another summer passes on the homestead without unusual events. When school begins again in the fall, Laura prepares for the school exhibition. Almanzo Wilder begins walking her home from church meetings, and she wonders why but finds she likes his company. At the exhibition, she performs her part—a recitation of the first half of the history of the United States—beautifully. The next day a man who has heard her invites her to teach in a country school twelve miles away. She is given an early examination by the county superintendent. She passes, and she is a teacher— at age fifteen.
Context
Little Town on the Prairie is the sixth in a series of seven novels based on Wilder’s own childhood and youth. The title just preceding it in the series, The Long Winter (1940), tells of the hardships endured by the Ingalls family during their first year in the Dakota territory. In it Laura is a hardworking but vivacious child, eager to help her father with the most difficult tasks and able to suffer patiently when the family and town nearly run out of food and fuel. These Happy Golden Years (1943), the novel that follows Little Town on the Prairie, completes the story of Laura’s youth. In it she becomes a schoolteacher, lives away from home for the first time, and falls in love with a man several years older than herself, Almanzo Wilder. The posthumous The First Four Years (1971), which was not edited by either Wilder or her daughter and is consequently rather different in style, forms a sequel to the series by describing Laura’s marriage to Almanzo, their move to their own farmstead, and the birth of their daughter, Rose. Wilder herself regarded her books as one multivolumed novel; thus seen, Little Town on the Prairie, makes up the adolescence chapter of the longer story. All Wilder’s books are notable for their realistic rendering of pioneer life and their convincing establishment of the child’s perspective. Because Wilder does not greatly idealize child characters, her work may be compared to two other books set in the late nineteenth century American West, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) and Willa Cather’s My Antonia (1918), though it lacks the moral complexities those books offer adult readers. Among children’s books, Little Town on the Prairie is similar to Caddie Woodlawn (1935) by Carol Rylie Brink in its anecdotal stories of girlhood on the frontier, even though Caddie is a more dedicated tomboy than Laura.
Bibliography
Anderson, William. “The Literary Apprenticeship of Laura Ingalls Wilder.” South Dakota History 13 (Winter, 1983): 285-331.
Erisman, Fred. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Boise, Idaho: Boise State University Press, 1994.
Mac Bride, Roger Lea. New Dawn on Rocky Ridge. Illustrated by David Gilleece. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.
Spaeth, Janet. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Boston: Twayne, 1987.
Walner, Alexandra. Laura Ingalls Wilder. New York: Holiday House, 1997.