These Happy Golden Years (Little House)

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Conclusion to Laura's Teenage Years!
Review: I absolutely loved this book! It was filled with so much stuff-first time teaching,being courted,becoming a woman,marriage,rivalry,& making your own life in your own home.I thought this book was the perfect ending in the entire series:I don't think the "First Four Years" should have been published at all-it's just too depressing,too dark,& it was very out of place with the other books.Anyway,I loved the rivalry with Nellie Oleson for Almanzo's hand,Laura's first time teaching,Cap Garland,Mary Power,Ida Brown,sleigh riding,& finally-Mary coming home!She would have been unstoppable had she not become blind in my opinion-I mean,she had everything going for her,right? This book was a gem,not as much as Little Town on the Prairie,but close.I had a good time with this book.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring yet sad
Review: I read this series in my early teens. I enjoyed the latter books more because as Laura ages the language advances, so I found the earlier books (especially Little House) boring (but appreciated later). However, the latter books are still my favorite. I found Happy Golden Years sad because at the time I thought that was all I would ever know about Laura's life, that the rest would be a mystery, but I later found The First Four Years and then biographies as well as her own writings depicting events in her adult life (I especially like Little House in the Ozarks). But even though I now know that Laura went on to have a long and happy life (not without hardship), the Happy Golden Years is still sad. This series focused on this wonderful tight-knit family that experienced joy as well as heartache, and now the family is breaking up. It started when Mary left for college in Little Town on the Prairie. She is missed but when she returns for a visit there's the beginning of the realization for Laura that this life she's had, this family she loves, will change and she will eventually leave. It's something she is not comfortable with- it is hard for her to imagine doing anything other than remaining single and staying with her family, teaching school, but as the book progresses so does her realization of change, which becomes acceptance and hope. I love the writing style- it is simple and honest like the lives of the characters. I couldn't help but feel the joy that Laura felt to be at home with her family, the dread with which she faced her first teaching assignment. The warmth on the weekends contrasting with the chill away from home at that horrible teaching assignment. And who is it that is responsible for giving her the respite from that awful place- Almanzo, who first comes to take her home but who ends up taking her away for good. She goes from not giving Almanzo much thought to missing him terribly when he goes East to visit family, so much so that her family, who were her greatest joy and comfort, are little consolation. It seems that most coming-of-age stories these days are cynical and family is usually considered a burden to free oneself from, but this story is not like that at all. I found this book inspiring. Laura is able to have an independent mind and spirit and stay devoted to what matters in her life: family, faith, a strong work ethic, perseverence. The book Little House in the Ozarks is a compilation of articles Laura wrote for a newspaper column, and I see that the qualities of independence, perseverence, and devotion endured throughout her life, so I am reassured that Happy Golden Years was not the end, but in a way it was, and that's why this book is sad.

Rating:
Summary: Laura Grows Up
Review: If you look at Laura's life before and after this book, you will see that the title is perfect. Her life before this was always a struggle, never having enough, never being satified.
It was the same way after this book. Sure, things were good many times. There were happy moments and happy times. But never in her history before or after were things so consistently good. Pa and the family are totally successful: no locusts, no droughts, no long winters. Their wealth steadily increases. Thanks to Laura's teaching job, they can afford the blind college for Mary. Laura can buy fancy dresses and hats, She is a beautiful teenager and many boys are asking her out for a buggy ride. She will only go with Almonzo, and they have many pleasant times together. Finally at the end of the book she is married at age 18. This book teaches things like the other books in the series. This time we learn the manners of dating and how a young woman is to act both in her career and in her relationship. Laura doesn't always follow the "rules" but we learn what they are. And Mary asks an interesting question of Laura when she finds she will be married: Why do you want to go live with that Wilder boy? It's a question for us all. Why do we want to get married? There are a million answers and we all have our own. Laura gives only one answer.
It doesn't really answer Mary's question and yet I believe the engaged can relate to it.

In learning about the Amish I find their life is similar: a long boring childhood filled with lots of work, married life that is even more work and always a struggle, and in between, These Happy Golden Years where a person reaches young adulthood
and spends a good deal of time socializing and meeting friends and having many happy times.

This is the perfect place for the "Little House" series to end. But if you're like me, You'll keep reading: The First Four Years(Laura and Almonzo's new marriage), Farmer Boy(Almonzo's childhood), and Little House in the Ozarks(a collection of newspaper articles Laura wrote as an adult). Then I guess it will be time to visit the "Little House" museum in Minnesota!

Rating:
Summary: Laura Grows Up
Review: If you look at Laura's life before and after this book, you will see that the title is perfect. Her life before this was always a struggle, never having enough, never being satified.
It was the same way after this book. Sure, things were good many times. There were happy moments and happy times. But never in her history before or after were things so consistently good. Pa and the family are totally successful: no locusts, no droughts, no long winters. Their wealth steadily increases. Thanks to Laura's teaching job, they can afford the blind college for Mary. Laura can buy fancy dresses and hats, She is a beautiful teenager and many boys are asking her out for a buggy ride. She will only go with Almonzo, and they have many pleasant times together. Finally at the end of the book she is married at age 18. This book teaches things like the other books in the series. This time we learn the manners of dating and how a young woman is to act both in her career and in her relationship. Laura doesn't always follow the "rules" but we learn what they are. And Mary asks an interesting question of Laura when she finds she will be married: Why do you want to go live with that Wilder boy? It's a question for us all. Why do we want to get married? There are a million answers and we all have our own. Laura gives only one answer.
It doesn't really answer Mary's question and yet I believe the engaged can relate to it.

In learning about the Amish I find their life is similar: a long boring childhood filled with lots of work, married life that is even more work and always a struggle, and in between, These Happy Golden Years where a person reaches young adulthood
and spends a good deal of time socializing and meeting friends and having many happy times.

This is the perfect place for the "Little House" series to end. But if you're like me, You'll keep reading: The First Four Years(Laura and Almonzo's new marriage), Farmer Boy(Almonzo's childhood), and Little House in the Ozarks(a collection of newspaper articles Laura wrote as an adult). Then I guess it will be time to visit the "Little House" museum in Minnesota!

Rating:
Summary: A golden review
Review: The book These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder is wonderful! The story is about Laura who is teaching because her sister Mary has gone blind. Laura has to become a teacher to live up to her mothers expectations. Almanzo Wilder and Laura are dating and Almanzo proposes. Almanzo's family hears about it and his mother and sister are coming to plan the wedding their way! Laura and Almanzo have to figure out a way to get married their way! I would recommend this book to a friend my age. I suggest you read the whole collection first so you can understand it better.

Rating:
Summary: A golden review
Review: This book was one I read and read again over the course of my childhood. I enjoyed the beauty of Wilder's fiction and Garth William's fine illustration. Definitely discover the books in order and rediscover them often!