Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Little House Books: The Library of America Collection

Originally published from 1932 to 1943, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books are classics of children’s literature, beloved by millions. But readers who last enjoyed them as children may be astonished at the quiet poetry of Wilder’s prose and the force and poignancy of her portrait of the lives of American pioneers. Now The Library of America and editor Caroline Fraser present a definitive boxed set that affirms Wilder’s place in the American canon, reintroducing these enduring works to readers young and old. Here, for the first time in two collectible hardcover volumes, are all eight Little House novels—brilliant narratives of the early life of Laura Ingalls and her family as they grow up with the country in the woods, on the plains, and finally in the small towns of the advancing American frontier—plus the posthumous novella The First Four Years, which recounts the early years of the author’s marriage to Almanzo Wilder. As a special feature, four rare autobiographical pieces address the need for historical accuracy in children’s literature, reveal real life events not included in the novels, and answer the inevitable question: what happened next?

Contains:

VOLUME ONE

Little House in the Big Woods

Farmer Boy 

Little House on the Prairie

On the Banks of Plum Creek

Library of America volume #229

VOLUME TWO 

By the Shores of Silver Lake

The Long Winter 

Little Town on the Prairie

These Happy Golden Years

The First Four Years

Library of America volume #230

Each volume features deluxe three-part bindings, a newly-researched chronology of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life and career, and helpful notes. The volumes are also available separately with standard Library of America series bindings and jackets.

"Every mother's daughter should have this boxed set." --VOGUECaroline Fraser, editor, is the author most recently of Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution. She has written for The New Yorker, where she was formerly on the editorial staff, The Atlantic, Outside Magazine, Allure, and The Los Angeles Times Book Review, among other publications. Her essays and reviews also appear in The New York Review of Books. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.