Review Detail

Reader reviewed by bookworm9

The last of the Little House books and the only one that Laura certainly wrote without any help from her daughter Rose (it wasn't published until after both of their deaths), "The First Four Years" reads like the rough manuscript that it is. The rest of the series always has that strain of optimism running through it, but this book highlighting the first four years of Laura's marriage to Almanzo Wilder seems to go from one tragedy to the next-- crops are ruined, a baby dies, the house burns down. Still, Laura is still Laura, and she does write beautifully. This is one for Little House fans to read when they're a bit older and can appreciate the telling of the story rather than the depressing story itself.