The Long WinterDidn't Leave Me Cold

It has been unusually warm here in Minnesota this fall, and I have been grateful for that. I have been reading the Little House series in order, and I knew that reading The Long Winter was going to be out of the question until spring if there was snow on the ground. Reading this book is likely to make you cold.

The Ingalls family experienced blizzard after blizzard, from October through April, during their second winter in De Smet (located in what is now South Dakota). The cold weather was dangerous in and of itself; so was attempting to go anywhere. During a blizzard, it was impossible to see anything, and it would have been easy to wander onto the prairie and freeze to death there. Trains were unable to come through, causing the town of De Smet to be left without supplies. The situation is extremely bleak, and just reading about it made me feel cold and hungry.

The Ingalls family survives by burning hay, which they twist into ropes, for heat, and for food they ate potatoes - until they ran out - and brown bread. The process for making wheat into brown bread is so strenuous that the Ingalls take turns grinding it constantly. The oppression and the exhaustion that they experience is incredible.

Strangely, for most of the book, it isn't obvious to the reader that Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family could easily have died that winter. Instead, the determination to survive is emphasized, despite the bleakness of the winter. They knew that eventually spring had to come; all they needed to do was to survive until the blizzards stopped.

The Long Winter has so far been my favorite of the Litte House books. The survival story is amazing and inspiring. My only warning would be this: read this book when it is warm outside - it can make you cold!