The beloved Little House series follows the pioneer saga of the Ingalls family, who moved across the Great Plains by covered wagon in the late 1800s.
During her childhood, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s pioneer family moved by covered wagon from Wisconsin to Kansas, then to Minnesota and South Dakota. Drawing on the author’s life, the Little House series tells of the joys and the hardships—extreme cold, failed crops, and more–experienced by the courageous family on their journey. Young listeners are immersed in everyday prairie life for Laura and her family—her Pa and Ma; her sisters, Mary and Carrie; and their trusty dog, Jack—as they join in building the American Midwest. Told from Laura’s point of view, starting at age four in Little House in the Big Woods, the series also traces Laura’s coming of age; her relationship with her big sister, Mary, who goes blind; her calling as a teacher at age 15; and her budding romance with Almanzo, who grew up on a big farm in New York State. The series culminates with the end of Laura’s adventures as a pioneer girl and the beginning of her life as a pioneer wife in The First Four Years.
Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress Cherry Jones brings the captivating pioneer saga to life through her performance of the Little House series. Jones’s lively and versatile delivery gives voice to Laura, Ma, Pa, Mary, Almanzo, and other memorable characters. She finds just the right pitch and tempo to capture many different personalities, and you can almost hear her smiling while she narrates. Her light and fresh tone brings a childlike wonder and enthusiasm to familiar stories.
Laura Ingalls Wilder was born in the Wisconsin woods in 1867. She wrote the Little House books based on her own experiences growing up on the Western frontier. Just like the characters in her stories, Laura and her family traveled by covered wagon across the Midwest and experienced many of the same adventures. She finally settled down in Mansfield, Missouri, with her husband, Almanzo, where she lived until her death in 1957.
The Little House series inspired a popular television series, Little House on the Prairie, starring Melissa Gilbert as Laura, which ran on NBC from 1974 to 1982. More recently, the books were adapted into a Disney TV mini-series and a stage musical.
