The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder with Illustrations by Garth Williams

The Long Winter is the story of a family in Desmet South Dakota during the 1880-1881 winter of blizzard after blizzard that nearly forced an entire town into starvation.

I remember when I was a little girl and I read the Little House books over and over again that The Long Winter was one of my favorite stories in the series.

In the story Laura is almost 14. She is growing up and learning about life. She learns about freedom when she is talking with her Pa before the winter sets in and sees a muskrat house made extra thick and strong. Her Pa explains to her how wildlife know when the winter is going to be bad and they build strong homes for protection. Laura thinks about this and thinks about how generation after generation of animals always build their homes the same way, yet human beings change. She and her Pa compare this ability to make their own minds up to freedom and what freedom really means. I remember thinking long and hard about that statement in this book. It has new meaning for me now that I am older and constantly making changes in myself.

The Long Winter is just that, a very long winter. The town receives a warning about this blizzard from a wise old Indian. Some people believe the Indian, some do not.

In this story Laura meets Almanzo Wilder and his brother Royal when she goes on an errand to town and gets lost in the slough on the way home.

The chapters move from talking about the Ingalls family to integrating information about Almanzo and Royal as they survived the blizzard. Thankfully Almanzo has a large store of wheat and he gives some to the Ingalls family. This helps them to survive.

The Ingalls family survives only one of the blizzards in their claim shanty and they quickly move to town for the winter to stay in Pa's store because it is better built. The Ingalls girls do not like the idea of living in town, but they soon change their minds when the blizzards begin to really hit.

This family and the whole town works hard to survive this terrible winter. They are hungry and tired and cold yet they manage to stay cheerful. Mary is blind and she is helpful with chores and Laura and Carrie and Baby Grace and Ma and Pa learn that survival means working together. The family runs out of oil lamp and has to make a button lamp. The family runs out of wood and has to make sticks out of hay to burn. They work hard to survive. But that is what they do, they survive. They manage to enjoy Christmas, and the Christmas is described as beautifully as it is in all of the Little House books. In the spring when the terrible winter is finally over they are once again joined with Mr. and Mrs. Boasts who managed to survive their winter out on their own claim. The Boasts bring butter to the spring celebration. A treat for everyone!

I remember my first copy that I owned of The Long Winter was missing the Christmas chapter. I used to be so mad when I read the book and had to skip a chapter. The first page of the chapter was there but then it just skipped. I was a kid then didnt think to just buy a new one, I did however go to the library to read the missing chapter when I was about 10. My new scholastic copy with the blue checkered edge has all of the chapters in full!

Garth Williams' illustrations are fabulous. The pictures of the snow and the cover with the girls in their coats going to school and having a snowball fight is light and full of fun. Amazingly, Laura Ingalls seems to recall the Long Winter with fondness and not with fear. The book seems somehow to be more light and less stressful than Silver Lake when we first learn of the illness that took Mary's sight. In this story the family seems to be settled and somehow stronger than they were in the last one.

The Long Winter was published in 1940, it has 33 chapters in 335 pages. It is the sixth book in the series. I highly recommend this Newbury Medal award winning book. Read it with your children it will remind you of the importance of working together as a family. It will also make you thank God for the food in your cabinet when the next snow storm comes.

Please read all of my Little House reviews:

Little House in the Big Woods
http://www.epinions.com/content_297982398084

Little House on the Prairie
http://www.epinions.com/content_298565144196

Farmer Boy
http://www.epinions.com/content_299643014788


The First Four Years
http://www.epinions.com/content_299160735364

By the Shores of Silver Lake
http://www.epinions.com/content_302387596932