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Big Stories for Little Children: A "Grampa Bill's" Farm and Animal Story Collection
Oleh Bill Wilson
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At the insistence of friends and family, Bill began writing short stories for reading to his church pre-school children. That is where Big Stories for Small Children was born.
Bill and his wife Sue live on their seven acre age old farm in the middle of the big city. The stories in this book are about the animals who live on their little "farm" named "A Touch of Nature". These stories reflect "Grampa Bill's" love of the land, the animals who live there, and of course his love of children.
Bill and his wife Sue live on their seven acre age old farm in the middle of the big city. The stories in this book are about the animals who live on their little "farm" named "A Touch of Nature". These stories reflect "Grampa Bill's" love of the land, the animals who live there, and of course his love of children.
Tindakan Buku
Mulai MembacaInformasi Buku
Big Stories for Little Children: A "Grampa Bill's" Farm and Animal Story Collection
Oleh Bill Wilson
Deskripsi
At the insistence of friends and family, Bill began writing short stories for reading to his church pre-school children. That is where Big Stories for Small Children was born.
Bill and his wife Sue live on their seven acre age old farm in the middle of the big city. The stories in this book are about the animals who live on their little "farm" named "A Touch of Nature". These stories reflect "Grampa Bill's" love of the land, the animals who live there, and of course his love of children.
Bill and his wife Sue live on their seven acre age old farm in the middle of the big city. The stories in this book are about the animals who live on their little "farm" named "A Touch of Nature". These stories reflect "Grampa Bill's" love of the land, the animals who live there, and of course his love of children.
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This series is such a delight. Each of their adventures and struggles is seen through the eyes of young Laura. I love the honesty and innocence that comes from that. I love her Pa's strength and character. Laura's parents are a team and despite their hardships, they never stop supporting and loving each other. This book covers their time in Indian country. There's a scene where they cross the river in their covered wagon that was particularly harrowing.
Rating: 5There are some sweet, lovely passages of writing, and the tone is so gentle and calm that I feel like I'm hitting a puppy to only award it 3 stars, but it's lack of plot momentum (it's really just one of those "and then, and then, and then, and then" kind of books) keeps it in the decent column.
It's definitely an improvement over the first two, as it has slightly less of a pioneer family how-to manual tone to it, and there's even some evocation of history and social issues. (Unlike some, I don't have a problem with the story's take on indigenous people--I thought it was rather deft how Wilder managed to convey, through young Laura's uncomprehending listening, that dear old Pa may have been a bit in the wrong on this issue).
I've never watched the show (it looked boring, to me, when I was growing up, earnest and not funny and not sci-fi or fantasy).
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
Rating: 3It's definitely an improvement over the first two, as it has slightly less of a pioneer family how-to manual tone to it, and there's even some evocation of history and social issues. (Unlike some, I don't have a problem with the story's take on indigenous people--I thought it was rather deft how Wilder managed to convey, through young Laura's uncomprehending listening, that dear old Pa may have been a bit in the wrong on this issue).
I've never watched the show (it looked boring, to me, when I was growing up, earnest and not funny and not sci-fi or fantasy).
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
This book starts off with the family leaving Wisconsin and heading west where there aren't so many people. They leave behind grandparents and friends and leave in a covered wagon and cross the frozen Mississippi at the end of winter. The family consists of Charles and Caroline, the parents, and Mary, Laura, and baby Carrie. They make the dangerous journey across the country to land in Kansas in Indian Territory and find a nice spot near a creek and decide to make a house.This is where the kinda boring part comes in where if you ever wanted to know how a log cabin was built you will be thrilled to know that this book tells you how. From laying down the logs with notches in them in order to lay the logs on top of each other to how to pull the logs up on top of each other once they reach a certain height. Also how to build a roof and a fireplace and a stable.In the midst of this, they have adventures with Native Americans and wolves who surround the house and howl most of the night. The Native Americans come and take food and tobacco from them and scare the daylights out of them. But that won't be the only interactions they'll have with the Native Americans. They'll also meet neighbors who help out in times of need and trade services like helping to get your well dug if you help to get his well dug. I first read this book when I was eight or nine years old. My book club decided to read this book for its selection this month which is why I reread it. It's interesting to go back and reread your childhood favorite books from a different perspective. I was a little bored at first by the simplistic writing and the how-to-build-a-log-cabin bit, but it picked up and became compelling and exciting to the point that you forgot the writing and got caught up in the story. There's a reason this book is a classic and read by so many even today. I recommend this book to people of any age.
Rating: 4I can see why these books were so popular - they give detailed descriptions of the way pioneer life worked. I've heard criticism that they are racist. Prairie has lots of second-hand racism with someone even saying the only good Indian is a dead Indian, but I thought it subtly shows the horror of the removal of Native Americans from their homes. The dad especially is so in love with the land they've come to with its abundance of game and water, kind of foreshadowing the plight of the Indians who were removed from that land to areas of starvation. The mom says how sad she would be if they had to leave their beautiful home, while the book depicts streams of Indians doing just that. However, the extreme authoritarianism and sexism is almost too much. Whatever dad says goes, the kids are to remain silent at table unless spoken to - children should be seen and not heard, and it is beaten into the children that they are to obey their parents' commands unquestioningly. Laura thought of disobeying, even though she didn't actually do it, and was punished for the thought. Plus, the girls'' dresses are buttoned down the back so that they can't dress themselves. So, interesting reads if you can take the worship of authority.
Rating: 4Once more, Pa is restless--too many people, too few wild animals, too many tree stumps on their farm in Wisconsin he explains to Ma and Ma, who loves her hard--working, loving, talented husband reluctantly prepares for the move to the flat prairie of Kansas--Indian Country. We follow them on the difficult journey, learn about the mechanics of building a cabin and a well, share encounters with unfriendly Indians and dangerous animals. One of the best descriptions of life on the frontier available for children. This is my third reading--to a child and now two grandchildren--and it is still a pleasure.
Rating: 4I can't believe I've lived my entire life without reading this book. A charming story - autobiographical - about a young girl whose family decides to leave Wisconsin and move by covered wagon to the Indian Territory where it is less crowded. They settle on the Verdigris River, 40 miles from Independence, Kansas in the southeastern corner of the state. It explains how Mr Ingalls built their cabin, the fireplace, the furniture and the stable for the animals. It told about the neighbors who lived near them and came to help when it was needed. It also described a prairie grass fire and how the family worked to save their home from the flames. The references to the Indians, though, were a little disturbing. One of the neighbors states that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian". Although Mr Ingalls chides him for that comment, he is of the opinion that since the white settlers have come, it is time for the government to move the Indians farther west. The book was first published in about 1935, so I suppose it would express views of another generation. I had an illustrated edition, and enjoyed it very much.
Rating: 4The 2nd in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. Follow the Ingalls family as they leave the big woods of Wisconsin and make their way to the prairie of Kansas. Another delightful book with insights into the daily lives of the pioneers. We think moving is hard when we throw everything on a truck and schlepp it to the next place. Imagine life when you had to build your home from the ground up.
Rating: 5The area around the Ingalls' little house in the big woods is getting crowded, and Pa decides to hop in the wagon and head off to "Indian country" in Kansas. The family find a nice place to settle and spend months building a home there. But just as things are beginning to settle down to a normal life, they begin to have troubles with the natives in the area, who are angry about all the settlers moving into their territory. This plot was a lot less passive than the story from Little House in the Big Woods, and as a result I enjoyed it a good deal more. This is my first time reading the series and it's exciting to experience the story that so many people rave about. Maybe I'll even check out the TV series, though I hear it's nothing like the books. One thing I had trouble with in this story was the handling of the Native Americans and their culture. Obviously, this book was written in a time when there was a lot of tension between Natives and white settlers, and the language and attitude expressed in Little House was acceptable. However, this may be one of those books that I would discuss with a young child if they were reading it. I don't believe in telling a child not to read a book, but I do believe in discussing certain points of books with children if it's possible for them to misunderstand the context. This is definitely one of those books. In the long run, though, I'm really enjoying this series and am eager to move on to the next book.
Rating: 4I discovered the Little House books when I was about eight years old. I remember two weeks one summer when I was confined to bed with a hard head cold, and how these stories took me away from my miseries. These were the stories that inspired me to learn and practice home preparedness: when I grew up, I learned how to make bread, cheese and vinegar; how to can and dehydrate food; how to knit, crochet and sew clothing; how to keep milk goats and rear chickens. Thank you, Laura Ingalls Wilder, for enriching my life in so many ways.
Rating: 5I'd forgotten how good this book is. When I was younger I didn't like it as much as other books in the series, so I didn't read it as often. This audio version really makes the book come alive with the excellent narration and fiddle music. A few parts even brought tears to my eyes.
Rating: 5See review for Little House #1
Rating: 5Overall, I think this is an exciting story that draws the reader in. Wilder can make a description engaging with simple vocabulary that most children can understand. Most of the story is comprised of retelling of how the days went by. The family was literally out in the middle of nowhere, and yet they were always busy. Modern children can be fascinated by what life was like before cell phones and even television. I found myself especially amazed by the chapter detailing Pa building a log cabin and a barn almost single-handedly with nothing but a hatchet and a spade. However, it must be said that there are a number of unpleasant racial elements to the book. It's a memoir of the time when Manifest Destiny was king, and the "white folks" believed it was their right to farm wherever they pleased. As Pa says on page 237, "When white settlers come into a country, the Indians have to move on." The American Indians are described as smelly (because they wear skunk skins) and scary. However, to a small child who had only heard stories, of course a new kind of person would be frightening. Lack of a common language only compounds the problem. On the other hand, the entire family is saved from malaria by Dr. Tan, an African American who works with the Indians. "He was so very black. (Laura) would have been afraid of him if she had not liked him so much." (191) The story is told from the point of view of a small child who has spent most of her life with a very small selection of people. Of course she's frightened of new things, but she shows the ability to learn. Because of the elements that stress white society over others, I would not recommend this book for children younger than eight. However, it could be used as a valuable teaching tool for older children as they study this period of American history. The book does not apologize for its opinions, it simply states how things were, and that can lead to fascinating conversations. Above all, Wlider's style makes the reader want to see what happens next. When Ma says there's "a whole year gone," (321) it is just as surprising to us as to her. The book could go on forever, and no one would mind. The characters and setting fascinate enough to make up for her shortcomings.
Rating: 4At the beginning of this story, Pa Ingalls decides to sell the house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, and move to the Indian Territory near Kansas. Laura, Pa, Ma, and Mary and baby Carrie, move to Kansas. During the book, the Ingalls family becomes terribly ill from a disease called at that time "Fever 'n' Ague" later referred to as malaria. Mrs. Scott, another neighbor, takes care of the family while they are sick. Mr. Edwards, another neighbor, brings the children Christmas presents. In the spring the family plants a small farm and make Kansas their home. At the end of the book the family is told that the land must be vacated by settlers as it is not legally open to settlement yet, and Pa elects to leave the land and move before the Army forcibly requires him to abandon the land.
Rating: 4Little House on the Prairie is the second book in the Little House on the Prairie series. When the Big Woods of Wisconsin start to get too busy, the Ingalls family pack up their covered wagon and head into Indian country, settling in Oklahoma. There pa builds a log cabin and stables, the family makes new friends in their neighbours and Indians visit on a semi-regular basis. Sickness, fires and a government decision all challenge the Ingalls family and the final chapter sees them loading up their covered wagon and heading out on the road again.
Rating: 4I'd love anything that Laura Ingalls WIlder ever wrote.
Rating: 4I love how incredibly capable everyone is, especially Pa.
Rating: 4In the second book in the series, Laura and her family are moving from the Big Woods in Wisconsin to the prairies in Kansas. There, they start with very little, except what they brought with them in their wagon, and build on the land they find. This is also Indian Territory, so there is some concern about that. I really enjoyed this. It is fun to read this series again (though I'm not sure if I did read the entire series when I was younger; I think so, but I'm not positive). There are so many great descriptions of the prairies, as well as how they lived and built things (the house, the chimney, the stable, the garden, etc). It's amazing how much they had to know to be able to start a life and build everything from scratch.
Rating: 4I loved this as a child and one of my parenting highlights was reading it aloud to my two children. My son didn't want to listen to a 'girl's book' but when we reached the scene where the wolves are howling outside the cabin, I noticed him peeping through the door as I read. What a childhood LIW had. Something of the expansiveness of the prairies stays with you when you've finished. Perhaps, rather depressingly, it makes you aware of how much we have lost in how we can bring up children.
Rating: 5Summary: This is the story that took place back in the 19th century. A family decides to move from the city to the country. They plan on living off of the land hunting, fishing, and farming. The books shows the struggles of the times back then such as illnesses, etc.Personal Reaction: This is a great book that shows how people used to live. The book shows the struggles and accomplishments along the way. I think it is very important that children today know how things used to be. Classroom extension:1.) Discussion with class over what they thought people used to do to live. Questions and answers.2.) Vocabulary word look up such as bison, wagon, etc.3.) Coloring pages of wagons and horses that were used back then.
Rating: 5Where I got the book: my daughter's bookshelf.Finally did it, folks. Read that American childhood classic everyone else but me seems to have read. Of course I didn't grow up in America so I have an excuse!And I liked it. Almost ran upstairs for the next one. Sure, the Indians are portrayed as savages who steal and threaten, and the Ingalls family (who had set up housekeeping illegally in the Indians' territory) make absolutely no attempt to understand or really communicate with them. But that's a pretty typical portrayal of the mindset of white settlers, who believed in their Manifest Destiny to overrun the land, that the only good Indian was a dead Indian, that they were biologically superior and that they would "improve" the land they lived on. All books written in the 19th and early 20th centuries reflect those unpalatable attitudes; our 21st century attitude is to feel outraged because we consider ourselves superior to our ancestors, but I don't suppose many of us would seriously consider inviting the tribes back into our suburbs. Perhaps our great-grandchildren will.And if the Ingalls family were anything to go by, those settlers were as ballsy as they were naive. They appear to have survived that year on the prairie mostly by dumb luck. If nothing else, this little book gives you an idea of the difficulties and dangers of homesteading and portrays just how frightening the plains must have appeared to the hapless women and children who got dragged into their menfolk's big adventure. I bet Ma Ingalls breathed a huge sigh of relief as they left the Little House behind.
Rating: 5Wow. I almost didn't finish this one and am questioning reading the rest. As a trained historian, I understand that we must not insist people from the past have the same ideals we have. But Little House on the Prairie was so filled with bigotry against the Indians I began to despair. Also a reminder of how completely horrible the US government, and settlers, were towards those who had lived on the land first.On the lighter side, Pa always impresses me with how much he knows. How to notch logs just right to build a house and lay a floor. How to plow and plant. How to make things like bedsteads and rockers.If reading this with a child now, I would be extremely careful to explain that the attitudes in this book were the prevailing attitudes of the day and that they are in no way acceptable.
Rating: 3This should be required reading in elementary school. I loved this book as a child and my daughter has read it over and over.
Rating: 5I think I liked this more than the first one! It's amazing how they build their home and almost everything in it! I can't even imagine doing all of that! And the ending was so sad. I can't imagine doing that either! I'm also enjoying reading this with my daughter and feeling so connected with her. I'm looking forward to the next one!
Rating: 4Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder; (4 1/2*)My G'ma gave one of the 'Little House' books to me when I was a youngster way back in the 1950s. I don't even remember which one it was but today at 70 I am still reading them. They enrapture me and I love how Ingalls minutely describes the manner in which they built the items they needed to accomplish their tasks.Stories such as these remind you of what family ties, loyalty, respect and responsibility mean.
Rating: 5After reading "Prairie Fires" I was inspired to reread at least one of the Little House books. I loved this just as much as I loved it when I was young. The writing is so descriptive and LI Wilder does an excellent job at creating a mood whether it be the coziness of a cabin or the fear of a wolf or Indian attack. And, the illustrations by Garth Williams are the best. These books are well deserving of the acclaim they have received.
Rating: 5I know I read this in elementary school, most likely before I was ten years old. And I'm sure I enjoyed reading it at the time. However, I remembered nothing of the book beyond the cover illustration and the cover copy text, so reading it now was basically like reading a new book.
I enjoyed reading this as an adult, but there were definitely parts that came across as...dated and a bit simplistic. Also, while I realize that the views expressed by various individuals in the book are very much representative of the time period in which the book is set, I found myself shaking my head more than once.
As other reviewers have commented, I would definitely want to have discussions with any children I gave this book to. There are a lot of good lessons to be learned, but there needs to be a good sense of context as well.
Rating: 3I enjoyed reading this as an adult, but there were definitely parts that came across as...dated and a bit simplistic. Also, while I realize that the views expressed by various individuals in the book are very much representative of the time period in which the book is set, I found myself shaking my head more than once.
As other reviewers have commented, I would definitely want to have discussions with any children I gave this book to. There are a lot of good lessons to be learned, but there needs to be a good sense of context as well.
I didn't remember this one nearly as well as Little House in the Big Woods, but many of the incidents (and many of the illustrations) were familiar and welcome. I was struck in Big Woods by the ingenuity and courage of the settlers living on the frontiers in the 1870s; in Prairie I am no less impressed by those qualities, but the circumstances of the Ingalls family in this installment gives me the willies in a way that the realities of living in the Big Woods did not. Surely it is because I have always lived nestled among hills and under trees that the descriptions (and illustrations--maybe even especially the illustrations) of the wide open prairie and the notion of a house just plopped in the middle of all that space quite literally gives me the shivers. Do you know a person who must sit with his back to the wall in a restaurant because that open space behind him is discomfiting? That's how I feel about houses. They ought be backed up against the foot of a mountain or at the least tucked in a clearing with tall trees all around. I'm glad, I guess, that there are people who like that kind of open environment (both Pa and Laura in this book seem to take to the flat openness of the prairie particularly well) as not all of us can live at the foot of mountains--there just aren't enough of them. But I leave them to it.The constant fear regarding encounters with restive Indians lent a sense of suspense to Prairie which was completely lacking in Big Woods. The fears I had about attitudes toward native peoples in this book were perhaps somewhat overblown. There is certainly othering going on here, and a fair amount of prejudice, but Laura (mostly) seems innocently fascinated by the Indians and Pa (though he definitely carries a nice load of white-settler-entitlement around with him) adopts a live-and-let-live attitude, talking his neighbors down from their fears on more than one occasion. Some passages made me squirm a bit, but keeping in mind the context in which the book was written and the time it recalls, and considering the perhaps more-enlightened-than-typical attitude of Pa, those passages weren't enough to ruin a series of childhood favorites. I would be fascinated, however, to read some articles delving into the portrayal of the native peoples in this book and providing some discussion of the political and historical situation. I'd particularly like to read some opinions on the scene where Laura becomes enchanted by an Indian baby with "hair . . . as black as a crow and its eyes . . . black as a night when no stars shine" and demands that Pa "get [her] that little Indian baby!" as well as on the fact that Pa's sense of morality when it comes to usurping the Indian land seems to stem directly from what the government says is okay. If Washington says the Indian Territory is open to the settlers then he's going to have his land and the Indians can go lump it. If they say not, then he'll move on. That the Indians are obviously living on the land and that they were clearly there first seems not to enter into it for him.Pa, in fact (and to a somewhat lesser extent, Ma), has become one of the most interesting aspects of these books for me on these rereads. How does he know how to make a life on the prairie anyway? That he should be a competent frontiersman generally can be taken as a given since when we first meet him in Big Woods he's already been making a successful go at that kind of life for several years (at least). But how does he know what the specific dangers of the prairie are? And how to deal with them? As a child, I accepted Pa as the all-knowing performer of crafty miracles and protector of home and family (I knew men like that myself, after all), but as an adult I begin to want to see him as a real person and to question him and to suspect that sometimes his pioneer spirit endangers his family (a number of minor catastrophes in Prairie, which are presented as things from which Pa saves the day, are actually his fault). The question of what children know and what adults know and keep from the children, I think, is a central theme in this book, and one which probably sails right over the head of children readers (except for the few times when it is made explicit as part of the action). I count six instances in Prairie when the whole family is a hair's breadth away from a horrible death, and much of what is interesting to me here (beyond the details of the day-to-day business of staying alive, which is always fascinating) is how these two adults try to--and mostly succeed at--giving their children a happy life which is free from fear and dread.
Rating: 4In my opinion: This may be a children's book, but it's just as good if not better for adults. The writing is simple but not insulting. The story itself is captivating. The occurences between the settlers and the American Indians were really amazing. All through the eyes of a little girl.Laura Wilder had an amazing gift to tell stories and to make an accurate picture of the time she grew up in and of what she thought and felt as a girl. This is not like the show in many respects though. If you only want to read about the exact characters and stories from the show, this may surprise you. Mr. Edwards is not in here much and you won't see characters like Albert or Mr. Oleson in this book. As they live on the prairie, there is no school or store, only a few neighbors a few miles away. Also Indians which only actually show up now and then.
Rating: 5This book began to develop a little beyond just the catalog of everyday activities that Little House in the Big Woods basically was.
It touches on issues of racism and politics as it affects individuals. I enjoyed seeing how Ma and Pa handled their difference of opinion about their Native American neighbors. Each held to his or her own convictions on the matter, but each was respectful of the other person's view. Pa turned out to be right (thank goodness...I don't know how I would have explained it to my daughter had it turned out the other way), but he didn't lord it over Ma.
Wilder's descriptions grew more effective and more emotionally real in this book. She does a lot to convey emotion with a minimum of words. There was more than one scene along the trail in front of the house in which the tension was just so apparent. Wilder never had to come right out and explain that the situation between the natives and the white settlers was a tenuous one, she just let those scenes speak for themselves.
Rating: 4It touches on issues of racism and politics as it affects individuals. I enjoyed seeing how Ma and Pa handled their difference of opinion about their Native American neighbors. Each held to his or her own convictions on the matter, but each was respectful of the other person's view. Pa turned out to be right (thank goodness...I don't know how I would have explained it to my daughter had it turned out the other way), but he didn't lord it over Ma.
Wilder's descriptions grew more effective and more emotionally real in this book. She does a lot to convey emotion with a minimum of words. There was more than one scene along the trail in front of the house in which the tension was just so apparent. Wilder never had to come right out and explain that the situation between the natives and the white settlers was a tenuous one, she just let those scenes speak for themselves.
The namesake of the series and the TV show is ironically my least favorite Little House book. Don't get me wrong, I still love it, but if you asked me which book to read of the series, this would not be it. It just doesn't tug at my heartstrings the way the others do.
That being said, it is still an amazing book. It's very seldom that an author gives you the vivid pictures that Laura Ingalls Wilder does. She writes so vividly and simply at the same time, that you're immediately transported back to her time.
Rating: 4That being said, it is still an amazing book. It's very seldom that an author gives you the vivid pictures that Laura Ingalls Wilder does. She writes so vividly and simply at the same time, that you're immediately transported back to her time.