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These Happy Golden Years (1943) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

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Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 1943 book, These Happy Golden Years, originally ended her Little House on the Prairie series. It is built around her early adolescence, up to the time of her marriage to Almanzo Wilder.

Setting

This children’s autobiographical novel is set on the prairies of Kingsbury County in South Dakota. Laura and her family spend much of the novel in the town of De Smet. 

Plot Summary

Laura Ingalls is going to teach school in the Brewster Settlement. The beginning of the book is about how she gets along with the school board president's unpleasant wife, who is boarding her. As her sister Mary is in a school for the blind, Laura is determined to keep her there by teaching school.

The middle of the book revolves around several of Laura's other teaching endeavors, such as teaching the Perry school, and the Wilkins school (where she boards with her friend Florence Wilkins' family).

The end revolves around Laura's marriage preparations and the marriage to Almanzo Wilder.

My Thoughts

This book is one of my favorite books in the Little House series, mainly because it has no serious problems. Wilder uses her descriptive skills to her advantage throughout the series, creating an atmosphere so the reader’s feelings align with the fictional Laura’s, and we can visualize exactly what our heroine sees around her. As a con, however, there is a scene where Mary's skirt is penetrated by what Wilder calls Spanish Needle Grass. Having read Pioneer Girl, written by Wilder and edited by Pamela Smith Hill, I can now say that Wilder misnamed this plant. However, I still like Wilder’s books.

The Rest Of The Series

Overall Summary

Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series is a life story. 

  • Little House in the Big Woods, portraying the girls' ages at: Laura as five, Carrie as three, and Mary as six. 
  • Farmer Boy, sharing the fictional story of nine-year-old Almanzo Wilder, living on a farm in Malone, New York.
  • Little House on the Prairie, arguably the most famous of the series, Laura and her family begin their life of traveling on the prairie.
  • On the Banks Of Plum Creek
  • By the Shores of Silver Lake, describing the Ingallses’ move to De Smet, South Dakota, the family except Laura herself would ultimately stay in Kingsbury County.
  • The Long Winter, describing the Hard Winter of 1880 - 1881. 
  • Little Town on the Prairie, describing 1881 and 1882 in the new little town of De Smet.
  • These Happy Golden Years, subject of the review 
  • The First Four Years, describes Laura and Almanzo Wilder’s early marriage.
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