Guide Note

Little House in the Big Woods tells the story of author Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family during their time living near Pepin, Wisconsin in 1871. The first in the series of Little House books features Laura and her family entertaining their aunt, uncle and three cousins during the Christmas holiday.

Fast Facts

1. Written by Laura Ingalls Wilder
2. Published in 1932
3. Published by HarperCollins
4. Considered the first in the Little House book series
5. Takes place in the Midwestern United States
6. Set in 1871
7. Third person narrative
8. Includes detailed and accurate information about making cheese, arts and crafts, and other activities
9. Major theme: the importance of family
10. Values of story reflect the time period
11. Mostly autobiographical, with some literary license
12. Story itself takes place before the family moved to Kansas, but in reality the events took place after they lived in Kansas

Four Year Old Laura

The story is told from the point of view of four-year old Laura. During portions when Laura was not present for the events the story is usually told in the form of her father telling the story to his family. The focus of the stories is on her family including her Pa, Ma, older sister Mary, and younger sister Carrie.

Rural Life in the Big Woods

The story focuses on daily living and the problems and triumphs of rural life. Major events include Christmas with her extended family, a trip to Pepin which was seven miles from their home, and a dance. These events are interspersed with more ordinary days with cooking, cleaning, sewing, and her father hunting for food.

Quotations

1. "It was a scary sound.Laura knew that wolves would eat little girls. But she was safe inside the solid log walls. Her father's gun hung over the door and good old Jack, the brindle bulldog, lay on guard before it." — Laura
2. "So far as the little girl could see, there was only the one little house where she lived with her father and mother, her sister Mary and baby sister Carrie. A wagon track ran before the house, turning and twisting out of sight in the woods where the wild animals lived, but the little girl did not know where it went, nor what might be at the end of it." — narrator

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