"Little House in the Big Woods" – pioneer life in the USA in the 1870s
Laura Ingalls Wilder
1932, HarperTrophy
This autobiographical story was conceived when Wilder realized that the pioneering way of life in the Midwest, which she had known as a child and young woman, was becoming extinct.
"Little House in the Big Woods” begins in the autumn of 1871, and shares one complete year in the experience of the Ingalls family in the Wisconsin forest. It is written from the perspective of young Laura, and as such, relates in very basic language the slow pace of living, and the fundamental activities which consumed almost all of the family’s daily lives. Laura’s parents reared their children with unquestionable love and patience, at the same time holding them to very strict standards of behaviour and family loyalty. Although the children assisted their parents in performing the daily, time-consuming duties, Laura’s story in those early years is one of contentment and joy. Because the entire Little House series is based on Laura’s actual life in a pioneer family, and was written with the aim of preserving those events for those who would never experience them, the series is highly, yet gently, educational, and the reader will appreciate the authentic accounts of tasks such as butter- and cheese-making, hunting, skinning, butchering, and meat-curing, the collection of honey and maple syrup, and numerous others. "Little House in the Big Woods” was composed using very simple English, and is recommended for Native English speakers beginning at seven years of age, and for English learners beginning in the sixth class. cok
