Little House on the Prairie (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
- First Published: 1935
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Domestic realism, Autobiographical fiction, Historical fiction
- Subjects: Girls, Children, Family or family life, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Parents and children, Traveling or travelers, Nature, Nineteenth century, Midwest, West, U.S., Native Americans or American Indians, Kansas, Animals, Homemakers, Frontier or pioneer life
- Locales: Kansas, Dakota Territory
As the second book of the series begins, Ma reluctantly agrees to leave the sheltering woods and house for the frontier. The family is to cross the Mississippi River in the cold, early spring, before the ice breaks. Despite her reservations, she nurtures her girls. “In firelight and candlelight she washed and combed them and dressed them warmly” for the trip. Family as the heart and source of security continues to anchor the story to come. After their wagon nearly capsizes crossing a stream, and their dog Jack is feared drowned, the isolation and vastness of the prairie emerges in...
[The entire page is 919 words long]
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