Pa Loves Ma, Ma Loves Pa, and All's Right With the World!

books:


	• On the Banks of Plum Creek (Little House) Laura Ingalls Wilder Avon, 2003 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 45 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

You can't go wrong with Little House...

I purchased this for my 8 year old daughter as a birthday gift per her repeated requests. She already had Farmer Boy, and chose this as her next Little House CD. She and her 12 year old sister both love these. We've read Little House books as a family, but now they can listen over and over.

This is a good CD. Cherry Jones' performance is excellent, and the fiddle music adds a wonderful touch for those who wish they could have heard Pa's fiddle.

As for the story, who doesn't like Laura Ingalls Wilder's classic stories of pioneer life in America? She brings it to life like nothing I've ever read, and I read everything I can get my hands on about American History. Laura give us such a detailed picture of her family, Pa's leadership, Ma's gentle manners, their work ethic, life in the 1800's, old-fashioned morals, and so much more. If my kids listen to this over and over, I know they'll gain so much that TV or movies cannot begin to give them.

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The Best of the Series

The Little House series are great read aloud books.

Our daughter is five and this series is perfectly age appropriate, even though an older child would enjoy them equally as well. For younger ones (three or so), there is a great picture book series called "My first little house books," or something like that. One of these is a story based of a chapter in this book and is called "Christmas in the Big Woods."

These CD's are great for long trips in the car. The narrator's voice is wonderful. The adults will find themselves enjoying listening themselves.

"One the Banks of Plum Creek" is the best of the series. It is the one where Mary and Laura go to school and where the character of Nellie Olson is introduced. Her brand of spoiled rotten meanness is nothing short of tantalizing to a five year old. Also, there are the wonderful Christmas chapters.

Just excellent, all around. I highly recommend the books to read alound and the CD's.

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Fabulous!

Whether you have read the Little House books or have never heard of them, this book on tape is wonderful for everyone from small children to adults. The narrator who reads it does an amazing job of capturing the childhood wonderment and emotions Laura was trying to convey. It is also so interesting to hear the way families lived back in the 1800's. I could listen to this book on tape over and over again.

Pa Loves Ma, Ma Loves Pa, and All's Right With the World!

ON THE BANKS OF PLUM CREEK -- Who could forget the plague of grasshoppers, or spoiled Nellie's encounter with the crab, or Pa's sojourn in the blizzard, among other adventures?

We -- my three homeschooled grandchildren and I -- are going through the Laura Ingalls Wilder series of books for the second time. We read them aloud during story time, and love every minute. These are books written about an American pioneer family in the 1800s with a strong moral compass. In an unsentimental style, the author writes simply of the day-to-day life she experienced firsthand growing up. As the title of this review suggests, a central theme, not only of this book, but the entire series, is that "Pa loves Ma, and Ma loves Pa, and all's right with the world," including in the face of all kinds of adversity and opportunity alike.

I enrich this time for my grandchildren by stopping occasionally to explain and discuss what we are reading about, be it an unusual word usage, a custom no longer practiced, how to do something by hand, historical facts... We have even stopped to do some research and measure out the height of a bear. Our family tradition is that the eldest grandchild (now 11) reads the last page of these books. Otherwise, I usually do the reading. We also try to get started right away on the next book in the series, the same day as we finish the one before, so as not to lose our momentum.

After going through the series the first time, we discovered (almost by accident at the local library) several other series of books, written by other authors, about Laura's great-grandmother Martha in Scotland, her grandmother Charlotte in Boston, and her mother Caroline in Wisconsin, so we decided to start over with the first of those books and carry on through. There is also a series about Laura's daughter Rose which we have not gotten to yet.

Reading through the other series in order has been time well invested. Like Laura, we have strong family roots in Scotland. We have four generations of our family living within close proximity, so my grandchildren know my father, their beloved great-grandfather, quite well, and this series helps them gain a feel of family and historical continuity, generation to generation. (Check for related book series under: Martha Years, Charlotte Years, Caroline Years, Rose Years).

I am investing in and building our own set of all these books in hardcover, having told my grandchildren that I plan to be around to read them to *their* grandchildren!

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A can't-miss addition to the series!

Laura Ingalls is now eight-years-old, her sister Mary is nine, and Carrie is still just a tiny tot. While they are all still quite young, they are expected to help out with the chores around the house - from sweeping to dusting, cooking and setting the table. But this year, the girls are in a strange new place. Looking to settle in an area where a school and church are close by, and the Ingalls' have a chance to grow a wonderful crop that will provide quite a profit, the family heads to Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Traveling by covered wagon, the family, along with all of their belongings, travels all the way through Indian Territory, across Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa, stopping at their destination in Minnesota. There, they are surrounded by Norwegian's who speak very little English. However, they are good neighbors who assist them in times of trouble. Trading their horses for a home located under the ground, Laura's family begins to call Minnesota their home. And, before long, Pa has built a lovely home by the banks of Plum Creek. He believes that his wheat crop will provide enough funds to pay off their debts when the time comes. But when locusts invade in cloud-like swarms, eating everything in their sight, the family must endure hardships that were unexpected.

But things are not all bad. Having never attended school before, Laura and Mary are finally near enough a schoolhouse where they can attend daily lessons that help them develop reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. It is at this particular school where the two older Ingalls girls are exposed to children - both male and female - who are close to their age. Some of whom title Mary and Laura "country girls." But the label does not affect how the two sisters view themselves, or their family; and only gives them the courage to befriend various girls who love to spend time with them. It is at school, however, that Laura encounters the spoiled, yet oh-so-pretty, Nellie Oleson, who goes out of her way to give both Laura and Mary a hard time. But Laura isn't having any of it, and resolves to get even with the vicious Nellie, even if it upsets her Ma and Pa. Luckily, with Ms. Beadle - the schoolteacher - around, Laura and Mary have the confidence to stand up for themselves, and receive the education that their Ma always wanted them to have; while getting the socialization they deserve. But even attending school doesn't excuse them from having to assist their family when the going gets tough.

Up until last year, I had been a diehard fan of the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE TV series, but had never had the opportunity to delve into the wonderful tales told by Laura Ingalls Wilder herself. Upon reading the introduction novel, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, I quickly fell in love with the Ingalls family all over again; and, since then, they have taken up residence in my heart, and kept me fascinated with the various adventures they experienced throughout their lives. Laura is such a lively, brave, fun-loving character; whose ambition, kindness, and, oft-times, naughtiness, make her appealing from start to finish. Her relationship with her family is hard to resist, as she manages to please and displease them on a daily basis, all to the jovial laughter of her father. I believe that Pa (Charles) is one of the most important characters in the series, as he is such a kind, loyal man; who rarely scolds, and spends his downtime entertaining his family with music from his fiddle, and stories that leave you chuckling. The family, as a whole, are the type of people you would absolutely love to have the chance to know. They are kind to strangers, helpful to neighbors, and both Ma and Pa are two of the most selfless people in literature. The information regarding Rocky Mountain locusts was both interesting, and frightening; but truly provides a wonderful history lesson for the young reader. While the introduction of the devilish Nellie Oleson provides quite a bit of humor, as she and Laura trade insults with one another at almost every meeting between the two. Ingalls did a marvelous job of penning such a cheerful addition to the series; and, thus far, ON THE BANKS OF PLUM CREEK has become my favorite LITTLE HOUSE book yet. A can't-miss addition to the series!

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

A new home

When the Ingalls family decides to move west to Minnesota, Laura is certain she won't like her new home. Her feelings quickly change as she and Mary make friends and Pa's wheat crop flourishes. Things take a turn for the worse when a cloud of grasshoppers destroys the crops and Pa is forced to leave to find work. Now it's Laura's chance to prove that she can help the family to survive.

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