Books Versus TV Show: The Long Winter & Little Town on the Prairie Books Versus Season 6 of Little House on the Prairie

Just like we did last week, we are going to compare some of the Little House books to the Little House on the Prairie television show. If you missed our first post, which compared Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie to the pilot, you can find it here. 

Wilder's readers were introduced to her future husband in the second book of the Little House series, Farmer Boy. They meet Almanzo and his family--Mother, Father, Royal, Eliza Jane, and Alice. That is the only look into the Wilder family until Almanzo is reintroduced in The Long Winter, along with his brother and sister, Royal and Eliza Jane, and Little Town on the Prairie, where Laura's attraction to Wilder's Morgan horses is made clear. Television viewers, however, don't meet Almanzo until Season 6 of Little House on the Prairie, when he is an adult. The only glimpse viewers get of Almanzo's childhood is in the Season 8 episode, "A Christmas They Never Forgot." 

The first noticeable difference between the books and the show is the location. The Long Winter and Little Town on the Prairie take place in the town of De Smet, South Dakota. With rare exception, the television show remained in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.

As Season 6 of Little House on the Prairie opens, it is the start of a new school year with a new teacher, Eliza Jane Wilder. Book readers will recall, however, that Almanzo and his older brother Royal were "batching" it in De Smet (pg 59) prior to Eliza Jane taking a homestead in town (pg 124). 

Unlike his TV counterpart, book Almanzo can cook--at least pancakes (pg 101), and has a set of beautiful Morgan horses named Prince and Lady. Though TV Almanzo never hunted, in The Long Winter, he joins the men to hunt antelope and almost loses Lady, who he had allowed to be ridden by a man in town. 

Readers of The Long Winter don't see much of Almanzo again until Cap Garland and he travel to get the seed wheat that saves the town from starvation when the trains can't make it through (pgs 264-285 & 295-302). 

In the episode "Family Tree," Miss Wilder assigns the schoolchildren a project to work on their genealogy. She pulls down a chart of her family tree. Now, keeping in mind that this episode aired close to four years prior to the Internet being invented, lovers of Laura Ingalls Wilder history will find some mistakes. 

• Perley Day Wilder's name is spelled Parley.
• Their paternal grandfather's name is incorrectly stated as Parley Day Wilder, instead of Abel Wilder. Their paternal grandmother is listed as Alice Wilder instead of Hannah (Payne) Wilder. 
• Their maternal grandparents are shown as Royal and Angeline Martin, not Justin Day II and Diadema (Bateman) Day.
• Some birthdates are incorrect: James Wilder's should be 1813; Angeline's should be 1819; Eliza Jane's is actually 1850; Almanzo's is 1857; and the youngest Wilder brother, Perley Day, was born in 1869. 

Almanzo's oldest sister, Laura, was never mentioned in the books, because the author felt it would be too confusing. She does, however, appear on Miss Wilder's family tree in that episode, despite not appearing in the Season 8 Christmas episode. 

Book readers see more of Almanzo Wilder in Little Town on the Prairie. They will be quick to notice that Almanzo is captivated by Laura in the books, versus Laura being captivated by Almanzo in the show. It will be Almanzo who offers her a ride to school and gives her his name card (pg 197). Almanzo will start asking to see Laura home from community events (279). So, despite Nellie taunting Laura and her classmates that she will be seen in Almanzo's new buggy, Laura will get that honor. Laura, however, is more impressed with the horses.

In the show, Almanzo dates a couple of young women from town, Christie Norton ("Annabelle") and Sarah ("Silent Promise"), while Laura pines away, hoping he waits until she gets older. Their friendship won't blossom into love until she gets her teaching certificate, which happens at the end of Little Town on the Prairie and in the episode "Sweet Sixteen." Though show fans will get that satisfaction at the end of the "Sweet Sixteen" episode, book fans will need to wait until the next book in the series, These Happy Golden Years, for them to be a couple. 

As long time fans of the show have heard, Michael Landon proceeded with caution in portraying Laura and Almanzo's relationship, considering fans had watched Melissa Gilbert (Laura) grow up on television and the age difference between the characters and Dean Butler (Almanzo) and Gilbert in real life. 

The show also portrays Caroline's and Charles's reactions to Almanzo differently. It is book Caroline who is concerned about Almanzo walking Laura home, because she is still young (pg 279), versus the numerous episodes where Charles expresses concern for Laura's infatuation with the much older Almanzo. He even tries to push Laura toward Perley Day Wilder when he shows up in Walnut Grove ("Wilder and Wilder"). 

Eliza Jane Wilder arrives as the new school teacher in De Smet (pg 124) and befriends Nellie Oleson, who readers had met in On the Banks of Plum Creek. Nellie's circumstances have changed, and so have Laura's to some degree. Laura finds herself the town girl, versus Nellie now being the country girl. In the show, Laura remained the country girl, and Nellie lived in town. Miss Wilder couldn't build a friendship with Nellie on the show, because once she arrived, Nellie had passed her final school exam and graduated, giving a commencement speech before being given Walnut Grove's first--and only--restaurant as a gift from Harriet and Nels. 

Though Laura and Eliza Jane were seen as having a friendly relationship on Little House on the Prairie, their book relationship was tumultuous. Nellie led Miss Wilder to believe that Laura felt she could run the school because Charles was on the school board (pg 180). As a result, the teacher, who could not manage her classroom, took it out on Laura and Carrie. 

Little House on the Prairie worked in some of the shenanigans that the book Miss Wilder experienced into the episode "The Werewolf of Walnut Grove." Some of the school days unfold in chapters 13 - 15 of Little Town on the Prairie. Lack of discipline creates an environment where the older boys are constantly causing issues, like Bart Slater did in the television episode. The show's writers have Albert Ingalls sit on a tack placed on his seat by Bart, just like Charley did in the book. They even have Bart chant the poem Ida and Laura created in the book based on Eliza Jane's school nickname. 

When the school board decides that Bart Slater will stay in school, Miss Wilder resigns, meaning that she and Almanzo will leave Walnut Grove. Ultimately, the rest of the schoolchildren stand up to Bart, which allows the Wilders to stay in town. In the book, Miss Wilder decides to return to Minnesota (pg 185), and two other teachers will take over the school in De Smet as the book progresses. 

While there are definite differences in how the books were brought to life by Michael Landon and his team, it's nice to see much of what happened in the books ends up in some fashion in the show. 

Book Review: The Beautiful Snow by Cindy Wilson

If you're a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Little House books, or pioneer history, you'll want to grab a copy of The Beautiful Snow by Cindy Wilson.

If you've read the Little House books, you will recall The Long Winter, where Wilder describes the winter of 1880 - 81, and her family's struggle to survive when blizzards from October through April cut off the railroad town of De Smet, South Dakota, from essential supplies.

Wilson's thoroughly researched account of that hard winter, weaves history through Wilder's fictionalized tale, focusing on the weather, the railroads, and the pioneering spirit that kept the settlers holding on until the trains finally arrived in May.

Wow! What a book. It's not a book I could read in one or even two sittings. Wilson does a fabulous job of providing so much information that you need time to digest it.

The introductions and background set the stage for a month-by-month journey through that hard winter of 1880-81. Each month starts off with a calendar that shows weather reports compiled by various newspaper articles. The Beautiful Snow brings you through that period of American history as settlers were wooed into moving west and following the railroad, all to be stranded on the unforgiving prairie once the blizzards started. Historical figures, maps, photos, and informative sidebars add to the reading experience, truly immersing you in the time period. The epilogue and various appendices provide additional information that rounds out this account perfectly.

Though I definitely believe this is a book for Wilder fans, history lovers and those interested in the history of the American railroads will enjoy The Beautiful Snow. I will treasure this book as part of my ever-growing Laura Ingalls Wilder collection.

Highly recommended!


Paperback: 376 pages
Publisher: Beaver's Pond Press (February 7, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1643439057
ISBN-13: 978-1643439051

I purchased a copy of this book in January 2020. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.

Coming in February: The Beautiful Snow by Cindy Wilson

The Long Winter is one of the most memorable novels in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series. It beautifully details the dramatic events of The Hard Winter of 1880-81, a harrowing time with months of never-ending blizzards leading to railroad blockades that all but cut off fledgling communities. But what really happened that winter? Lively and rewarding, The Beautiful Snow is a new look at The Hard Winter.

Pulling from nearly three thousand regional newspaper articles, The Beautiful Snow weaves the historical record around and through Wilder's fictionalized account. From the tireless efforts to dig out the railroad blockades, to lavish oyster parties, to carefully spun boosterism, The Hard Winter comes to life with extraordinary tales of survival, resilience, and defiance that adds rich context to Wilder's beloved novel.

Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Beaver's Pond Press (February 7, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1643439057
ISBN-13: 978-1643439051

Pre-order here!

Survey Results: These Happy Golden Years Favorite Little House Book

In 2013 we had a poll up that asked what your favorite Little House book is. Our readers selected These Happy Golden Years by a wide margin. Here are the top three choices:

• These Happy Golden Years 52%
• The Long Winter (my personal favorite) 25%
• On the Banks of Plum Creek and Little Town on the Prairie 22%

Thanks for taking part in this poll. The survey's full results appear in the sidebar.

Funny Valentine

I couldn't help but think of The Long Winter when I saw this.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday Almanzo!

I don't know how any of you ladies feel, but I think this is a handsome photo of young Almanzo James Wilder. This "Farmer Boy" from New York moved with his family to Spring Valley, Minnesota in 1875 due to crop failures. Almanzo would join his older siblings, Royal and Eliza Jane, on a trip into Dakota Territory, where the brothers and their sister took up claims near what would become De Smet, SD.

He would meet his future wife, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls, in De Smet. They would survive the Hard Winter, during which Almanzo and Cap Garland saved the town from starvation by going off to find seed wheat to feed the town until the trains could get through in the spring.

Though Laura actually had her eye on Cap Garland as a potential suitor, Almanzo's Morgan horses captured her attention. Eventually Almanzo and Laura began courting. He would drive her back and forth to her first teaching job.

They were wed on August 25, 1885. Life wasn't always easy for the Wilders. They suffered tremendous loss. They would eventually leave De Smet, traveling to Mansfield, Missouri, where they would spend most of their adult years.

Laura captured Almanzo's love of farming in Farmer Boy. She portrayed his heroic nature in The Long Winter. In Little Town on the Prairie and These Happy Golden Years, readers watched their romance blossom, and in The First Four Years, readers witnessed the harsh realities of the times in which the Wilders lived.

On Almanzo's birthday, we pay tribute to America's favorite "Farmer Boy." We are so glad we got a chance to know him through Laura's eyes. We are also glad to have talented actors who have brought Almanzo to life for us in their own unique ways.

"Home is the nicest word there is."--Laura Ingalls, A Harvest of Friends

In the first episode of the first season of Little House on the Prairie, the Ingalls family settles in Walnut Grove, Minnesota and builds their little house on Plum Creek. Mary and Laura are asked by their Pa how they like their new room. They have a larger comfy bed to share and even their own window. Laura declares that she has decided something, "Home is the nicest word there is."

That's exactly how I felt after being displaced for a week because of the snowstorm. I can't tell you how comforting it was to move all our belongings back home a week later and settle into life as usual. We have a tendency to take for granted what our modern world has provided us. After the storm, I could cook on my gas stove, but we couldn't run water or use the toilets. We had bottled water for drinking and plenty of canned goods, but I felt dismally unprepared again. This is now three storms over the past five months where we've lost power, and I still don't think I know how to prepare for them.
 
As we prepare for winter--hoping it's not as bad as last year's--my thoughts wander to the Ingalls family and how much effort it must have taken them to get ready to endure the cold months of winter while they waited for spring to arrive, so the growing season could start all over again. It certainly does make one appreciate 21st century life.

Living The Long Winter

Last year, Western Massachusetts got hit with snowstorm after snowstorm. We had record breaking snowfall in 2010, and spring couldn't come fast enough for any of us.

This year looks like it's going to shape up to be the same. As an unusually early Nor'easter blew through here yesterday, dumping 10 inches of snow in our area, downing power lines and falling trees, I couldn't help but think of The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Without power and with many roads impassable, I felt like Laura stranded in her house in town on the Dakota prairie.

Tonight's temperatures are going to drop down into the teens, freezing anything left on the ground. Luckily, daytime temperatures this week will be in the mid-40's or higher, so it should melt quickly.

I don't think I'm ready for seven months of winter.

Laura and Almanzo's Romance - The Books Versus The Series

This topic has been on my mind for quite a while, so I figured I would open this up for some discussion to get more thoughts on it.

The developing romance and subsequent marriage between Laura and Almanzo was portrayed very differently on the Little House on the Prairie (LHOP) television series than from what Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote in her books.

While Almanzo was the gentle pursuer in the books, it was a young Laura who was pining away for Almanzo on Little House. Now, we realize that Michael Landon had to think of his viewers when he developed Laura and Almanzo's romance for TV. The show's audience had been watching Melissa Gilbert grow up for five seasons; so it would be difficult for them to see a much older man going after Laura in the show. It would almost seem creepy. Take into account the real-life age difference between Melissa Gilbert and Dean Butler, who portrayed Almanzo in the show, and once again, Landon had to be very careful with how he presented their budding romance.


In the books, we are also treated to more coverage of their courtship than we are in the show. Most of Season 6 we watch Laura trying to get Almanzo to notice her. That changes starting with the episode Wilder and Wilder. In one episode (Sweet Sixteen) Almanzo finally notices how much Laura has matured; in the next one he proposes (He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not); and in the next episode they are married (Laura Ingalls Wilder).

Fans of the books, however, are introduced to Almanzo Wilder in The Long Winter, when he and Cap Garland travel many miles to buy seed wheat to save the town of De Smet from starvation. We see the beginning of Almanzo and Laura's romance in Little Town on the Prairie, and their courtship continues and they get married in These Happy Golden Years. Laura's impressions of Almanzo are very different in the beginning in the books, versus her being so taken with him in the show. If I remember correctly, Laura actually had her eye on Cap Garland.

While I am one of those fans who sees the show and the books as totally different entites, and appreciates how they both celebrate Laura's legacy, I always wished the show dedicated more time to Laura and Almanzo's courtship. Laura's pining away for Almanzo and how she occasionally embarassed herself because of it didn't always sit well with me, but I believe I understand what Landon was trying to accomplish.

How about you? Which version of Laura and Almanzo's romance do you prefer? What changes would you have made to the television version if you had the power? Or are both versions perfect the way they are?

August Book of the Month

I'm posting this early because we'll be off to the Outer Banks of North Carolina this evening and we won't be back until mid-August.

When we asked our readers, which book of the Little House series was their favorite, The Happy Golden Years won by a landslide.

Not quite sixteen, Laura takes her first teaching job at the Brewster School twelve miles away from town. She had never been away from home before, and from the opening illustration to the opening paragraphs of the first chapter, we can see and read the apprehension Laura experienced.

"...Pa did not not say anything.

Sitting beside him on the board laid across the bobsled, Laura did not say anything, either. There was nothing to say. She was on her way to teach school.

Only yesterday she was a schoolgirl; now she was a schoolteacher. This had happened so suddenly."



Those who have read this book remember how homesick Laura was while she lived with Mr. and Mrs. Brewster and taught school. Most of her students were taller than she. And who could forget Laura's excitement at going home when Almanzo arrived to pick her up in his sleigh, or her dismay when she thought Almanzo would no longer come for her once she told him she would not be going riding with him after she returned home for good. But Almanzo continues driving her back and forth to the Brewster settlement, encouraging her because he knows how much she dreads going there.

Mary comes home from college in The Happy Golden Years, and we get to see and read what a young lady she has become and how many things she has accomplished while she was away.

Winter turns to spring and spring to summer. Almanzo and Laura go riding in his buggy and they attend singing school. But perhaps the best part of this book is Almanzo's surprise return on Christmas Eve. By this time, Almanzo and Laura are engaged to be married, and Almanzo, along with his brother Royal, had planned to spend the winter with his folks.

Late on Christmas Eve the snow had begun to fall again and when there was a knock at the door. Laura was struck speechless when she saw Almanzo on the other side. Almanzo comes bearing gifts and admits he didn't want to stay away so long.

Almanzo and Laura marry and settle into their "little gray home". The book ends with two verses from a song that Pa's fiddle often played:

"Golden years, are passing by,
These happy, golden years."

It's nice to watch Almanzo and Laura's relationship develop in this book. We see a bit of the hero in Almanzo from The Long Winter, and there is nothing better than a romantic and unexpected return.

July Dates for Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant

Looking for something fun to do this summer? How about traveling to De Smet, SD to take in the annual Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant!

According to the pageant's website, over a hundred volunteers work together each year to present a family-friendly drama based on the writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder. This year will be The Long Winter (my favorite of all the Little House books).

The 2009 dates are as follows:

July 10, 11, 12
July 17, 18, 19
July 24, 25, 26

There are also pre-show activities. The website also includes a page on the history of the pageant and a photo gallery.

Step back in time to when the West was being settled by pioneering men and women like the Ingalls family.

For more information about experiencing De Smet, South Dakota, visit www.desmetsd.com.

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Here is a book review of The Long Winter that I wrote last year. I've made a few changes to it since its original publication, but you'll probably be able to figure out it's one of my favorites.

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

On the Dakota prairie, the muskrats built their thick-walled houses and the geese flew south with great haste, not even stopping to rest in the Big Slough. Pa Ingalls watched these signs and worried of what they foretold.

The Long Winter continues the saga of the Ingalls family--pioneers who continued to move west until they finally settled in the new town of De Smet in Dakota Territory. A surprise October blizzard leaves Pa fearful for his family’s safety as their claim shanty is in no condition to withstand the seven months of storms a wise Indian has predicted.

Pa moves Ma, Mary, Laura, Carrie and Grace into the store building in town so they can be snug and warm, and close to supplies. But the constant blizzards, sometimes only a day or two apart, keep the trains from reaching De Smet. There is no coal, no kerosene, no flour, and no game to hunt. The men go to work on sunny days with picks and shovels, trying to clear the Tracy cut so that the trains can get through to the townspeople who are slowly wasting away. Then the word comes--no trains until spring, and the people of De Smet wonder how long they can survive.



The reason I am drawn to this book is because of its wonderful descriptions. Wilder paints a clear picture of what it was like to live in Dakota Territory during that harsh winter. From the hunger for food, to the frost covered nails on the roof of her house, to the piercing screams of the constant blizzards, Wilder pulls me in. I feel the pain Laura experiences as she watches her family suffer through the dangers of living in a new town where not even rabbits can be hunted for food. I admire Almanzo and Cap as they risk their lives to save the townspeople. And I join in the excitement of waiting for that first train to arrive after months of no supplies.

A book of courage against seemingly insurmountable odds makes The Long Winter a must read for all Laura Ingalls Wilder fans.

Free Land and The Long Winter

A strange thing happened as I sat in the tub reading Free Land. I actually thought for several pages I was reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter. While the names and some of the events were portrayed differently, and they occurred in Nebraska instead of Dakota Territory, there were many of the same details Laura had spoken of in her novel. 

It was freaky to hear of David Beaton and his friends the Peters family--who he lived with during that hard winter--hauling hay from claim shanties, twisting the hay for fuel, hovering around the stove for warmth as the blizzards raged outside, constantly grinding seed wheat in the coffee mill, and even making a lamp made from a rag dipped in axle grease. All of these things happen in The Long Winter within the Ingalls house. 

Now, we writers know that ideas are a dime a dozen and there are no patents on them, but in The Ghost in the Little House, Holtz claimed Laura may have had a problem with Rose using what Mama Bess saw as "her" material. So, I find it odd that Rose would use this part of family history and publish it in 1938, while Laura was working on her own books (The Long Winter was published in 1940).

I can't imagine that readers at the time didn't make some kind of connection between the two--maybe they did. Granted, the Hard Winter is only part of Free Land, whereas Laura's book is entirely focused on that one winter and the hardships the town endured. One good thing about Rose using this material--I was able to get all the way up to page 171 in Free Land because I liked the story. Look for more comments about Free Land as I read through to the end.