I loved these so much as a child. It’s so much fun experiencing these formative stories again. ( )

Little House in the Big Woods
Written by Laura Ingalls Wilder Illustrated by Garth Williams

Enchanting look at a young girl's life with her family in a pioneer house in the forest, so different from our own life but filled of humanity and wonder. Very enjoyable, except for the long descriptions of how food was prepared, which was a bit too much for me. Don't let that dissuade you from reading it, though. ( )

Well, yes, it's very good as an answer for a young person's school assignment of "historical fiction", but for me, this might be one case where I preferred the dramatization (tv series) to the book. I found the first few chapters, especially, that involved surviving in the wild woods by virtue of death to furry woodland creatures great and small, rather disturbing--especially when it came to slaughtering the family's pig and then the description of subsequently making . . . hog's head cheese? I thought cheese was strictly a dairy product. ? For the child with my critter sensitivities, I don't think I'd recommend it. ( )

Meet Laura Ingalls...the little girl who would grow up to write the Little House books. Wolves and panthers and bears roamed the deep Wisconsin woods in the 1870's. In those same woods, Laura Ingalls lived with her Pa and Ma, and her sisters Mary and baby Carrie, in a snug little house built of logs. Pa hunted and trapped. Ma made her own cheese and maple syrup. All night long, the wind howled lonesomely, but Pa played his fiddle and sang, keeping the family safe and cozy.