The Long Winter

1940, 1968 Harper & Row edition
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Illustrated by Garth Williams
The Long Winter
Original price unknown, purchase price $2.50
Worn paperback
B


In some ways this is the best "Little House" book so far, but it's hard reading about how the Ingallses suffer during the harsh winter.  Also, the Indian dialect is very cliche. 


The Ma vs. tomboys dilemma continues, with Laura helping Pa perform "boys' chores," since someone has to help.  And Laura wants to play catch with the boys at school but knows she shouldn't.  The cover picture shows two girls, one presumably Laura, having a snowball fight with a boy, and this seems not only unlikely, but in contrast to the bleak story.  Williams's illustrations are better than they've been in awhile, and I like his use of snowflakes.


In this book, the age difference between Laura and Almanzo is cut down to about half, around five years rather than the ten of real life, presumably to make it more palatable to 20th-century readers.  Laura is 14 to Almanzo's 19.  There's no romance yet, but she does admire his brown horses.  He has some heroic moments in the story, including getting wheat in a snowstorm, to feed the starving town.


When the winter ends, after seven months, there's a feeling of relief and release, but it is a long time getting there, for the town and for the reader.