Opening Sentence:
‘…The mowing machine’s whirring sounded cheerfully from the old buffalo wallow south of the claim shanty, where bluestem grass stood thick and tall and Pa was cutting it for hay…’

I have lost count the number of times I have read this series – my copies are all old and dog-eared, well-loved books. I reread this one for a challenge that needed a ’season’ in the title. It is never a hardship to read one of the’ little house’ books.

The adventures of Laura Ingalls and her family continue as Pa, Ma, Laura, Mary, Carrie, and little Grace bravely face the hard winter of 1880-81 in the Dakota Territory. Blizzards cover the little town of DeSmet with snow, cutting off all supplies from the outside. Soon there is almost no food left, and starvation is perilously close for the Ingalls and other families. Young Almanzo Wilder and a friend decide to make a dangerous trip across the snow-covered prairie to find some wheat.

It is very traumatising to read – the whole town could have perished – the pioneers faced challenges we can only dream about. But they had a strength that may have been lost to us today – a spirit of sacrifice and adaptability. Laura finally learning that you have to hide your misery to protect the little children. The family that pulls together in the grimmest of circumstances is a wonderful example to us all. ( )

This was such a hard book to read - the blizzards just went on and on. The parts that I found most touching were the scenes with Pa Ingalls and the Wilder boys. When he goes for wheat and the boys talk about the families starving in town - that was just such an emotional scene for me. And I had such admiration for Almanzo and Cap - who risked life and limb to save the town. We take our safe lives for granted in these more modern times. ( )

Read these as a child and loved them all. I had the 9 boxed set volume.

Once the Ingalls family is settled in the new town of De Smet, they settle in for The Long Winter. The town is ill prepared for the winter that is to come, with temperatures lower than the thermometer can register and blizzards blowing more often than not. Supplies run low and people start to stretch what little they have as far as it will go. This is one of the more serious of the stories, and it highlights what kind of chances the settlers were taking by moving out to areas where the weather was unpredictable and likely unfamiliar to many of them, without the advantage of having time to have settled in and stored up in preparation for something like this happening. The events are well-told and it is interesting to read about the ingenuity that many of the townsfolk utilized to help get their families through the hard wintertime. ( )

This book describes the Ingalls' family's daily activities during a season of multiple blizzards that threaten their town's survival by cutting off food supplies. The story is less interesting in terms of narrative things but works wonders with its vivid descriptions. I read this on a warm spring day and couldn't help but feel cold. While the day-to-day struggle seems repetitive at times, this serves as a poignant reminder that nature affected every aspect of daily life for these settlers, from whether they went to school to where in the house they ate their meals to how early they went to bed. A lifestyle so far removed from our modern conveniences really transports readers back to a different time and place. This book might work well if taught or read in conjunction with historical lessons on pioneer settlement to highlight another aspect of the dangers and risks of westward expansion. ( )