On June 18, 2020 we finished reading aloud through the Little House on the Prairie series (by Laura Ingalls Wilder). We started in January with the goal of finishing in one year. My plan was to read them to the younger girls as part of their school day, Becca and Isaiah decided to join. I wasn’t expecting the series to be such a hit or to finish in half a year.
Little House in the Big Woods – Jan. 22, 2020 (283 pages)
Little House on the Prairie – Feb. 8, 2020 (335 pages)
On the Banks of Plum Creek – Feb. 25, 2020 (339 pages)
Farmer Boy – March 17, 2020 (372 pages)
By the Shores of Silver Lake – April 17, 2020 (290 pages)
The Long Winter – May 6, 2020 (335 pages)
Little Town on the Prairie – May 23, 2020 (306 pages)
These Happy Golden Years – June 10, 2020 (289 pages)
The First Four Years – June 18, 2020 (134 pages)
My biggest surprise was how much Clara (4) loved the books. She decided she was Laura and was absolutely smitten with Almanzo. She was devastated when Jack died and when Mary lost her sight. She couldn’t wait until Laura married Almanzo. She loved when Nellie Oleson was angry. It was a delight to read these to Clara. The other kids got involved too. During our reading of Plum Creek they spent lots of time outside building houses in the mud.
The series ends on a downer. They should have stopped with These Happy Golden Years, as The First Four Years is rather depressing (crops fail for four years straight, house burns, baby boy dies) and doesn’t have the same tone as the other books. I think we’re going to try to find a copy of On the Way Home to see if that leaves us in a happier state.
What did Ezra do while we read? We usually read after breakfast, Bible study, and clean up were finished. Ezra usually napped, watched worship songs, or wandered around.
Other chapter books we’ve read this year:
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White – April 8, 2020 (184 pages)
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary – April 22, 2020 (158 pages)
Babe the Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith – April 30, 2020 (112 pages)
The Hundred Dresses by E. Estes – May 4, 2020 (80 pages)
TumTum and Nutmeg – Adventures Beyond Nutmeg Hall (a three book collection) by Emily Bearn – April 2020 (read by Josh) (503 pages
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl – June 2020 (read by Josh)
The kids have also listened to many Audible books this year. We’ve especially enjoyed all the free books made available by Audible during the pandemic including: Five Children and It, White Fang, The Enchanted Castle, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Happy Little Family, The Lost Prince, The Princess Test, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, & Homesick – My Own Story.
A big thank you to the Gottwals for giving us many of the books in the Little House on the Prairie series!