I loved the Little House books when I was a kid, and when I discovered that Laura's daughter had written books too, I found a copy of this one (probably at the library) and read it.

I don't think I realized then how much overlap there was between this and On the Banks of Plum Creek, but I know I enjoyed it. I'm still a sucker for this type of story: I liked the movie version (Young Pioneers) too.

Headed to Arkansas for the birthday group - hopefully this one will arrive in time!

Wishing you all the best for a great year. :D

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Since Molly is only sixteen when she gets married, I'm counting this as a release for Secretariat's 2014 Never Judge a Book By Its Cover Challenge (week 40).

Thanks so much for sending this my way! My mom and I are really into the Wilders lately, having just visited Rocky Ridge Farm in MO last month. I plan to read it and then send it to her.

"Newlyweds Molly and David are only sixteen and eighteen years old when they head west to the unclaimed land there. But they work hard, and at first their new life is full of promise; the wheat is high, their dugout is warm and cozy, and a new baby is born to share their happiness. Then disaster strikes, and David must go east for the winter to find work. Molly is left alone with the baby--with nothing but her own courage to face the harsh prairie winter."

As a whole, the story was a good one. I'm not super fond of her writing style and I think this settles the controversy, for me at least, that she was the "secret author" of the Little House books. Her writing style is very different---much less detailed than her mothers and featuring language and strong emotions that were not prevalent in any of Laura's books. I think I would have liked this story a lot better had it been more fully developed. Still, I've always enjoyed reading books about settlers so it was a quick, enjoyable read for me. Other, more detailed and better-written, stories like this are ones by Janette Oke about the settling of the Canadian wilderness.

This book fulfills my 2014 goal of reading 50 books. Yay! I'm setting it aside to send to my mom.

Sending to my mom, charlieshack, to read, release, or whatever!

To the finder of this book:

This book is gift, no strings attached, from me to you. You may keep it forever, pass it along to a friend, or release it into the wild to be found by someone else.

If you are new to BookCrossing, welcome! Enjoy the site, the book, and the BookCrossing community. I hope you'll join us...it's free! If you do, please consider using me, elizardbreath, as your referring member. You can even remain anonymous if you wish!

I hope you'll make a brief journal entry so all the previous and future readers can track this book's journey.

Thanks, and Happy BookCrossing! :)

I love the simple message in this book. I am keeping it with my Little House collection!