Guest post by Jennye Woolf It is funny that this chapter is titled “Breathing Spell” since the entire chapter seems as though people are holding their breath waiting for the next shoe to drop. It starts off still but so…

We’re back at the feed store. Blizzards leave a lot of time for thinking, and Almanzo spends his days doing just that — not cracking jokes or even seeming to notice his chores as he does them. Even more shocking,…

Guest post by Karen Witham Coffee grinder This remarkably short chapter (in my Harper Trophy 1971 paperback, it’s three pages) is all about food, or really, the lack thereof. It opens with the family eating the last of the potatoes.…

Before I launch into the chapter summary, I’d like to address a few things from “Fair Weather“: Did anyone catch the reference to Ma writing her letter? She writes it horizontally, the way one normally writes a letter, and then…

We wake up to find the cozy tunnel gone, the snowdrifts scoured (again with that word, which I didn’t realize how evocative it was until Wendy brought it up) down to the bare ground. We also find out it is…

By now the blizzards are coming to life in Laura’s dreams as monsters, as she sleeps to the sound of the ice-sand scouring the roof.  That scouring noise of the blizzards—a recurring description throughout the book—has always struck me as…

Guest post by Barbara Mayes Boustead The chapter begins on a hopeful note, on a day full of sunshine.  After the day’s chores, Pa heads across the street to hear the news.  He returns with 4 pounds of ox meat…

What strikes me, soon into this chapter, is that it is told mostly from Almanzo’s perspective. I always have liked that. As a fellow horseperson, I could relate to how he felt when he thought he may have lost Lady…

Guest post by Sommer Sorenson We open this chapter with Pa busily working to keep his family warm. His brilliant idea for hay sticks has a price… they must continually be keeping it in supply and so when Pa is…

The Little House books are full of cherished Christmases, each uniquely special. It takes a real gift to make a charming Christmas out of this paltry holiday celebration, however. The chapter begins full of hope and joy; the spirit of…