List of Little House Books - On The Banks of Plum Creek

The fourth book in the series, On the Banks of Plum Creek, takes place from 1871 to 1874, and follows the Ingalls family as they move from Kansas to Pepin, Wisconsin to an area near Walnut Grove, Minnesota, and settle in a dugout "on the banks of Plum Creek (Redwood County, Minnesota)". In this book, like the previous ones, Laura's age is still not accurately portrayed in relation to events as they really happened. During the course of the story, Laura is between the ages of seven to nine years old, but in 1871 her real age would have been 4 or 5.

During the course of the story, Jack, the family bulldog, moves with the family to Plum Creek, though in real life he did not make the journey with the family. Readers liked Jack so much that Laura decided to include him in this book.

Pa trades his horses Pet and Patty to the property owner (a man named Hanson) for the land and crops, but later gets two new horses as Christmas presents for the family, which Laura and her sister Mary name "Sam" and "David". Pa soon builds a new, above-ground, wooden house for the family. During this story, Laura and Mary go to school for the first time, at Barry Corner School, where they meet their teacher, Miss Eva Beadle. They also meet Nellie Oleson, who makes fun of Laura and Mary for being "country girls." Laura plays with her bulldog Jack when she is home, and she and Mary are invited to a party at the Olesons' home. Laura and Mary invite all the girls (including Nellie) to a party at their house to reciprocate. The family soon goes through hard times when a plague of Rocky Mountain Locust, or grasshoppers, decimate their crops. The book ends with Pa returning safely to the house after being unaccounted for during a severe four-day blizzard.