The First Four Years

by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Book Overview

The ninth and final book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's classic Little House series.

Laura Ingalls Wilder is beginning life with her new husband, Almanzo, in their own little house. Laura is a young pioneer wife now, and must work hard with Almanzo, farming the land around their home on the South Dakota prairie. Soon their baby daughter, Rose, is born, and the young family must face the hardships and triumphs encountered by so...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060264268
• ISBN13: 9780060264260
• Release Date: February 1971
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.8" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

I ordered the hardcover book. Instead I got a soft cover book

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great, just great

Wonderful! Perfect book for kids 7-13. It doesn't get out of hand in marriage information. It's very exciting and full of fun.in every chapter something happens good and bad. Not to bad. I recommend this book a lot!

Good reading of Little House Book

This is another good reading of a Little House book by Cherry Jones.

young adulthood for Laura

"The First Four Years" has a distinctly different tone from the "Little House" books, which, despite the hardships of pioneer life, were suffused with the strength, comfort, and security of loving parents. Pa would play his fiddle, and Ma would sit sewing in the evenings, and all was well. This book describes the beginning years of Laura and Almanzo Wilder's life together, and it was a difficult period. Both Laura and Almanzo suffer from diptheria, a very serious illness at the time. Laura later gave birth to the couple's second child, a son whose life was so brief that he apparently remained unnamed. After his death, during a period when Laura must have been distraught and inattentive (although this is not spelled out), there is a fire which destroys the house Almanzo has so lovingly and carefully built. Their troubles and losses eventually lead to a re-location to the Ozarks in Arkansas, far from Ma and Pa and the family circle of sisters, although that move is outside the scope of the book. "The First Four Years", despite lyrical passages, describes the end-of-innocence in Laura Wilder's life. It's a book for older children. Recommended.

Wonderful book

I love this book.Evan though I an only 10 my opinion is this book really and truly touches my heart.It brings bag good and sad memories.It is the last of her time.She and her husband Manly and Rose(her daughter)go through many hardships of their day.I love The First Four Years.I wish in a way I lived back then.I hope this review has helped you.

The story continues....

I was glad to see a sequel to the Little House books eventhough it wasn't written the same. This was just a rough draft to a book that never was suppose to be printed. I was glad to see it published as is. Here are two young people with hopes and dreams for their future. Along the way, they had their share of hardships. I couldn't imagine losing my baby and my house in one months time! Of course their is anger and frustrations in this book! Who could be happy when you see all your hard work demolished in only fifteen minutes by a hailstorm? Who could be happy after nearly dying of diptheria only to have your husband suffer a stroke that left him weak for the rest of his life? Losing the baby, your house and practically everything that you own would certainly create a bitterness in me. Yet they were able to still have fun by horsebackriding, the birth of Rose and family and friends near by. Almanzo had big dreams and caused their financial downfall by buying on credit. No different then how it is today with credit cards. Even though the story is sad, I'm glad to have this a part of my Little House collection.

A grownup Laura and her married life.

I remember reading this book as a youngster, but not really appreciating it until I grew older. This story tells the hardships that Laura and Almanzo faced in their first years of marriage. Almanzo wants to be a farmer, but Laura remembering some of the harder times in her childhood isn't so sure. Together they face storms, fire, and illness in order to survive. This is a wonderful story for adults, too, as it makes you appreciate the strength our great-grandparents must have had in those early days.