Laura Ingalls Wilder - Long Winter

I have been a huge fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books since about third grade. I've read the nine books about Laura's life so many times I can answer all the questions in the "Little House Trivia Book" with hardly a moment's hesitation.

I'd say I usually read the whole series about every other year as the mood strikes me. And the other night, I was struck by the mood. It was a very cold night, my dad had built a fire in the fireplace, and I had a sudden urge to read The Long Winter while curled up in front of the fire.

The Long Winter takes place during the winter of 1880-1881 in the new town of DeSmet, South Dakota. Laura, her parents, and her sisters Mary, Carrie, and Grace have just finished the first year of living on their homestead claim. Because the ground had just been turned into a field that year, there wasn't much of a harvest. But the Ingalls family is not worried, as they live only a couple of miles away from town and the train.

But then a blizzard hits the town in early October, and Pa hears an old Indian warn that every seventh winter is a hard one, with every twenty-first being a particularly bad one. The winter of 1880-81 in the twenty-first year in the cycle. Pa believes the Indian's warning and moves the family to town for the winter, where they are closer to neighbors and supplies.

It's a good thing he does, too, because the blizzards hit hard. The blizzards last about three days each with only one clear day in between. During the blizzards, the family is completely isolated. Laura can't even see a light shining from across the street.

But soon a big problem develops. The trains are getting backed up because of all the snow on the tracks. As soon as workers can get the track clear, another blizzard strikes. Finally, the dreadful announcement comes: the trains will not run again until spring. This means that the town will not receive any shipments of anything, including coal, kerosene, and food.

The Ingalls family runs out of coal and wood. They must resort to twisting hay into sticks to feed the fire. Imagine keeping a fire going all day using only hay! The kerosene for the lamp runs out, so the family has to go to bed as soon as it's dark. But worst of all, they literally run out of food.

This is a great book to read in front of the fire on a cold night. I felt like I was there with the Ingalls family, watching Pa and Laura twist hay and Mary and Carrie grind the kernels of wheat into flour in the coffee grinder.

The Long Winter is also a great book to be read around Thanksgiving as it really made me appreciate all that I have. Reading about the Ingalls family as they starved and froze made me quite thankful for a warm house and plenty of food to eat.

The only minor complaint I have about this book is one I remember from elementary school. Of all of the books in the series, this one is the slowest-moving. It's hard to make six months spent entirely in one room too thrilling to the reader. There's just not much to say about several months of grinding wheat and twisting hay day in and day out. As an adult I can see the purpose for writing that way, but as a kid I found parts of the book a little monotonous.

Overall, though, The Long Winter is a great book. It's a wonderful way to see just how isolated the early settlers of the west were, and how dependent they were on the trains and their crops. Some night, try curling up in front of the fire with a copy of The Long Winter yourself.