Published: 1971 by Harper Trophy
First Published: 1943
Series: Little House #8
The main things I remembered going into it this were Laura being miserable at her first teaching job and the sleighing parties. Except once I started reading, realized that all happened in the first few chapters, and there's actually quite a bit more.
In elementary school I had a hard time understanding Laura and Almanzo's relationship. After all, when he started driving her she was only around 15 and he was around 20. I still don't think that kind of age difference would work today, at least until they were older. Instead a 23-year-old dating a 28-year-old seems quite possible. Plus considering the books took place almost 150 years ago, it makes sense to me now. But at age 8, I thought it was a little gross and couldn't quite understand it.
Part of that though, is that it isn't written in a fairy tale type way, which I'm sure I wanted back then. Instead it's a friendship that slowly turned into a romance. I do think it's adorable when Almanzo surprises Laura for Christmas and asks, "Can't you thank a fellow better than that?" It's probably the most lovey-dovey moment between the two of them, and I'm sure I didn't quite grasp it previously.
The is actually the last Little House book I'll be reviewing, at least for now. The set of books I've been reading, which were originally my mom's and are basically falling apart, didn't include The First Four Years, and I'm not planning on buying it anytime soon. I did read my friend's copy previously so I have at least read it before, and remember not liking how it didn't have chapters and felt different than the rest. Which is why I think it makes sense to end with the books that Laura herself had published. That and the fact I'm not planning on buying a new set of books for a while. But it's definitely been fun to find myself back in these books, and I'm sure at some point I'll be reading again.
5/5
Today I'm linking up with Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club Friday!
I've never thought about the fact that Laura was only 15 and Almanzo 20 when they started having a romance. Craziness!!! And I just love these books so much.
ReplyDeleteI have fond memories of reading these books in my childhood but they were so hard to find in Scotland! I don't think I ever read them in the proper order. Almanzo was actually ten years older than Laura so he was twenty-five when she was fifteen which makes it seem worse!
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