Customer Reviews
Little House in the Big Woods
Georgia E. of Hillsboro, 8/22/2016
It was cool learning how people did things back during the time of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I liked the part when Laura's mom slapped a bear because she thought it was their cow!
Susanna Z. of Augusta, GA, 8/9/2016
Mary, Laura, and Baby Carrie live in the woods of Wisconsin with Ma, Pa, and their bulldog Jack.
In the fall, Laura and Mary enjoy playing dolls in the attic with all the years harvest and meat hanging from the ceiling. There so many good things to make out of the pig that Pa butchered every year. The meat, sausage, and a ball made out of the pig's bladder. Then the girls could eat the pig's tail! In the evenings, Laura and Mary would sit next to Pa and watch him clean the traps and afterward, Pa would tell stories and bring out the fiddle before bedtime.
When cold winter days came, Mary would help Ma make butter. For play, Ma cut paper dolls for the m to play with. Soon, Pa would come home with his beard frozen stiff. Then Laura would run squealing and giggling into Pa's lap as Mary joined her. Then, if Pa's traps were empty, he would play with the girls. Then came the best time of all. Pa played his fiddle and kept time with his foot. At Christmas, Aunt Eliza, Uncle Peter, and the cousins, Peter, Alice, and Ella would come to the little house. The cousins would leave after Christmas, but memories stayed with Laura and Mary instead.
Spring was coming, until one morning, when Laura and Mary woke up and pressed their faces to the icy window and saw icicles hanging from trees and a fresh carpet of snow on the ground. A few days later, Pa came in and declared, "It's a sugar snow!" Laura asked him what sugar snow was, but he had to hurry to Grandpa's house. When Pa came back, he had brown cakes of maple sugar! On Monday morning, the family went to Grandpa's to help with more sugaring. After the day's work was over, all the cousins and relatives joined together for a dance. There, Pa played his fiddle and tapped his foot to the different tunes he played.
Summertime was coming in. More people were chopping down trees and building houses. Laura and Mary were getting used to seeing wagons come past their house every day. Occasionally, travelers would stop by for a hot meal. Finally, it was cheesing time. Pa would kill a young calf for the cheese.Uncle Henry would bring his calf to share with Pa. One day, Pa found a bee tree and gathered honey from the tree. Every night Pa bring out his fiddle and play a tune or two before Laura and Mary crawled into their cozy beds.
The Big Woods may of had bears, panthers, and freezing winters, but Laura felt safe when Jack and Pa were there. And every evening Pa would bring his fiddle out and play for Laura and Mary.