Originally published from 1932 to 1943, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books are classics of children’s literature, beloved by millions. But readers who last enjoyed them as children may be astonished at the quiet poetry of Wilder’s prose and the force and poignancy of her portrait of the lives of American pioneers. Now The Library of America and editor Caroline Fraser present a new two-volume edition that affirms Wilder’s place in the American canon, reintroducing these enduring works to readers young and old. Here, for the first time in two collectible hardcover volumes, are all eight Little House novels—brilliant narratives of the early life of Laura Ingalls and her family as they grow up with the country in the woods, on the plains, and finally in the small towns of the advancing American frontier—plus the posthumous novella The First Four Years, which recounts the early years of the author’s marriage to Almanzo Wilder. This first volume includes Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer Boy, Little House on the Prairie,and On the Banks of Plum Creek, plus two rare autobiographical pieces that address the need for historical accuracy in children’s literature and reveal real life events not included in the novels.

A companion volume gathers By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, These Happy Golden Years, and The First Four Years

Each volume features a newly-researched chronology of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life and career, and helpful notes. The volumes are also available in a deluxe collector’s boxed set, The Little House Books: The Library of America Collection.

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

Caroline Fraser, editor, is the author most recently of Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution. She has written for The New Yorker, where she was formerly on the editorial staff, The Atlantic, Outside Magazine, Allure, and The Los Angeles Times Book Review, among other publications. Her essays and reviews also appear in The New York Review of Books. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Categories

• Fiction / Classics
• Fiction / Small Town & Rural
• Fiction / Biographical

Related Editions

• Hardcover (August 30th, 2012): $41.25
• Hardcover (August 30th, 2012): $80.00

Product Details

ISBN: 9781598531602
ISBN-10: 1598531603
Publisher: Library of America
Publication Date: August 30th, 2012
Pages: 634
Language: English
Series: Library of America Laura Ingalls Wilder Edition

Recommended Reading Level

Minimum Age: 18
Maximum Age: UP
Minimum Grade Level: UP
Maximum Grade Level: UP