List of Little House Books - Little House On The Prairie

Little House on the Prairie, published in 1935, is the third of the series of books known as the Little House series, but only the second book to focus on the life of the Ingalls family (the second book in the series, Farmer Boy focused on the childhood of Laura's future husband, Almanzo Wilder). The book takes place from 1869–1870.

The book tells about the months the Ingalls family spent on the prairie of Kansas, around the town of Independence, Kansas. At the beginning of this story, Pa Ingalls decides to sell the house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, and move the family, via covered wagon to the Indian Territory near Independence, Kansas, as there were widely circulating stories that the land (technically still under Osage ownership) would be opened to settlement by homesteaders imminently. So Laura, along with Pa and Ma, Mary, and baby Carrie, move to Kansas. Along the way, Pa trades his two horses for two Western mustangs, which Laura and Mary name Pet and Patty.

When the family reaches Indian Territory, they meet Mr. Edwards, who is extremely polite to Ma, but tells Laura and Mary that he is "a wildcat from Tennessee." Mr. Edwards is an excellent neighbor, and helps the Ingallses in every way he can, beginning with helping Pa erect their house. Pa builds a roof and a floor for their house and digs a well with another neighour, Mr Scott, and the family is finally settled.

At their new home, unlike their time in the Big Woods, the family meets difficulty and danger. The Ingalls family becomes terribly ill from a disease called at that time "fever 'n' ague" (fever with severe chills and shaking) which was later identified as malaria. Laura comments on the varied ways they believe to have acquired it, with "Ma" believing it came from eating bad Watermelon. Mrs. Scott, another neighbor, takes care of the family while they are sick. Around this time, Mr. Edwards brings Laura and Mary their Christmas presents from Independence, and in the spring, the Ingallses plant the beginnings of a small farm.

Irony also becomes a part of this book. Ma's prejudice about American Indians, and Laura's childish feelings, are shown side by side with the portrayal of the Osage tribe that lives on and owns that land.

At the end of this book, the family is told that the land must be vacated by settlers as it is not legally open to settlement yet, and in 1870 Pa elects to leave the land and move before the Army forcibly requires him to abandon the land.

Many of the incidents in the book are actual situations that happened to the Ingalls family at that time in their lives as told to Laura by her Pa, Ma and sister Mary over the years. Because Laura was, in fact, 2 to 3½ years old while her family lived in Indian Territory during 1869–1870, and did not remember the incidents herself, Laura did more historical research on this novel than on any other novel she wrote, in an attempt to have all details as correct as possible.