After listening to the first book of the little house series I couldn't resist myself to finish the series as soon as possible so that I know what happened to Laura and his family. I didn't read any other books before finishing this series. ( )

it doesn't matter that i never wanted to actually wear the clothes described herein; what matters is that the clothes were described _in detail_. ( )

Well, we have known it was going to happen all series, so I don't feel it is much of a spoiler to say this is the book where Laura and Almanzo finally get together. I really enjoyed this - Laura as a young woman has a more varied and interesting set of relationships in her life than Laura as a child, and I even found myself fond of Pa now, playing the fiddle, and lovingly supporting Laura in her growing adulthood.

For a romance, it is surprisingly dominated by many many chapters of excellent descriptions of horses. Pulling sleighs, pulling buggies, horses just being tamed, horses starting to be obedient - when Ma says 'Laura, do you like him, or his horses?' I really did laugh out loud. But they are such lovely horses, spirited and swift and glossy.

There are so many good aspects of Laura's character in this book - Laura learning how to be a school teacher and dealing with trying to have control over boys older than she is; Laura staying at the Brewster's, and trying to be a good cheerful helpful non-complaining person, while Mrs Brewster is on the verge of a nervous breakdown and wandering the house at night with a knife; Laura spending all her wages on an organ for Mary, and then trying to be supportive and happy when Mary decides to go and stay with a friend for the summer instead. She's not just a saint though, Laura deliberately spooking the horses so Nellie gets scared when Nellie has her eye on Almanzo is quite cheeky!

The last bit is a sudden tone change, it is a bit like 'oh, there should always be a horrible prairie disaster, we had better mention one', so it stops being weddings and singing clubs and compliant school children, and becomes 'and then a cyclone killed children and destroyed entire houses'. But, err, not Laura's for once! ( )

Laura is now 15(?) years old and has her first teaching job. But it’s taking her away from her family and she needs to board with people near the new school… and the wife/mother doesn’t seem to like her much. Lucky for Laura, Almanzo decides to come bring her home on weekends. And the job is only for a couple of months. Once she is done, she can go back to her own schooling.

This is the start of this installment of Laura’s childhood/growing up in the late 1800s. The rest of the book follows her to more teaching jobs and with her and Almanzo’s courtship.

I really enjoyed this one, as well. It feels like not as much happened in this one as in some of the others, but we followed the seasons through a few more years as Laura (and Mary) grow up and are branching out on their own. From the title of this one, I always thought they would be much older (“Golden Years”) in this book, but I suppose the meaning of the phrase might be different now. I found it interesting that she could go back and forth between teaching and being a student (with her regular class!). Obviously she didn’t need to finish school to become a teacher. I really do love the descriptions of the prairie and of the weather. ( )

3.5 stars. Laura Ingalls has certainly grown on me over the last 7 books (minus Farmer Boy, since that’s Almanzo’s story) I’m not sure if it’s that she’s improved as an author or I just really didn’t like the moralizing of the first books, since that’s been toned down a little bit, at least.

Laura as a character is growing up, which I like. She’s still tomboyish (don’t tell her I said that!) but much more aware of her place in her family and society, and willing to put aside her own desires for the good of others, particularly her family. I like how her family is a unit, each person steps up to do their part, and as much as they possibly can to help the family. No one has to ask, Laura has the choice of working in town and is told she doesn’t have to help send Mary to college, but she chooses to for the love of her sister and her parents. When she does this, Carrie steps up (and volunteers Grace as well) to take over Laura’s chores and help the home continue to run smoothly. Not a single one of them complain, and there’s a thread of thankfulness as hard times are remembered and they see how far they’ve come from their little cabin in the woods.

This is also the first time I’ve seen a romance develop quite like this. I’ve read plenty of old fashioned stories of courtship and falling in love, but this is by far the most stark. One day Laura is bewildered as to why this man (because there’s at least 6 or 7 yrs difference between them, which seems like a LOT when your female protagonist is 16!) and the next day she likes going on buggy rides with him, and one more day and he’s asking her to wear his ring. I trust that’s how it actually happened, but there’s no wooing, there’s no moments when their eyes meet and one or both of them just “knows,” nothing seems to have been added to make the situation more appealing to young girls. I kind of like it, and it’s really the only way I can think of that Almanzo’s interest in Laura isn’t a little creepy, but it’s really different.

It still isn’t anywhere near a series that I love or want to read over and over, but I would consider adding it as a read aloud to my kids. Farmer Boy, the Long Winter, and this one have stood out in the series, it just seems kind of strange to jump right to the second half of the story to get to the “good parts.” ( )