100 Books for Girls to Grow On by Shireen Dodson

Author:Shireen Dodson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-06-11T16:00:00+00:00

Little House on the Prairie

by Laura Ingalls Wilder

This volume in the eight-book Little House series tells the story of the covered-wagon journey the Ingalls family makes as they travel from their little cabin in Wisconsin to the Kansas plains, where they build a new home. Life on the prairie is full of new experiences like encounters with wolves, contact with Indians (both friendly and tense), a prairie fire, and family sickness. The Ingalls family survives them all. What they cannot survive, however, is a government order that all settlers must move, due to increasingly tense encounters with the Indians. The Ingalls family packs up their covered wagon again to head even farther west.

READING TIME : 4—5 hours, about 340 pages

THEMES : growing up, moving, resourcefulness, separation, hardship,

Discussion Questions

• Laura and Mary Ingalls never complain about moving from their snug Wisconsin cabin. They are described simply as clinging tightly to their rag dolls. How do you think they feel about leaving their familiar home, friends, and relatives and heading into the unknown?

• Describe your feelings and thoughts about moves you have made in your own life from one home to another. What were the worst and best parts of the experience? What surprised you about the new setting? What helped you to adjust?

• Describe the behavior of the Ingalls children on their difficult journey. How does their journey compare to a long car, plane, or train trip a child of today would make?

• What possessions did the Ingalls family bring along on their trip? How are they different from what people bring when they move today?

• What personal and practical skills does each family member need on a covered-wagon trip?

• Each family member, including the family animals, has a role to play in the Ingalls’ household. Describe what those roles are. Why do you think such roles are established? Are there distinct roles in your own family?

• Laura Ingalls is deeply moved by the physical beauty of the prairie. Share your impressions of the book’s prairie setting. Does it sound like somewhere you would like to live?

• What are some of the simple activities the Ingalls family enjoys together? Describe activities you enjoy with your own family.

• Describe the relationship between the Ingalls family and the neigh-boring Indians.

• How do each of the Ingalls family members react to the news that they must leave their new prairie home?

• What is the mood of the family as they begin their second journey toward an unknown land?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR : Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life was much like that of the girl she depicts in her books. Ms. Wilder was raised in the late 1800s, and her family faced many hardships and was forced to move many times throughout the Midwest frontier. Ms. Wilder drew from these experiences to create a series of books, for young adults, about her life. These books chronicle the struggles her family encountered as they fought to survive in a new land. Her memories make this series of books come to life.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.