Reception at Time of Publication

1932

Virginia Kirkus, the editor of Harpers Children’s section in 1931, was one of the first to read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods. She writes about being so absorbed in Mrs. Wilder’s manuscript that on her late afternoon train bound from Manhattan for Westport, Connecticut she went one stop beyond her station! A telling critique from someone in the business. Ms. Kirkus was joined by many others in her praise of Mrs. Wilder’s work. Little House in the Big Woods was designated as a selection of the Junior Literary Guild, runner up for the Newbery Award, and reviewed respectfully and well. Furthermore, Harpers wanted a second book from Mrs. Wilder right away.

Earton, Anne T., New York Times Book Review, April 24, 1932 p. 9 Little House in the Big Woods. By Laura Ingalls Wilder. Drawings by Helen Sewell. 176 pp. New York: Harper & Brothers. $2

This little story for 8 to 10 year olds has a refreshingly genuine and lifelike quality. The author writes of the life she knew and lived sixty years ago on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. She understands children’s tastes and interests and the story of Laura and Mary and their parents, who lived in a log cabin, miles from neighbors and a settlement, is full of incidents and accounts of daily doings that boys and girls will enjoy. Christmas, when visiting aunts, uncles and cousins fill the little house to overflowing; churning and butter making, hog-killing and “sugaring off,” harvest time and pumpkin pies, the wonderful new machine that threshed as much on one day as three men could have threshed in three weeks, and other memories of pioneer life, are described with zest and humor. The characters are very much alive and the portrait of Laura’s father, especially, is drawn with loving care and reality. The illustrations have charm and catch the spirit of the book.

Hirschl, Jessie. Books. January 12, 1932. p. 5

This small saga of Pioneer Wisconsin should be read by all Middle Border children – and by many others, to whom its experiences will not be even an echo of word-or-mouth inheritance. Too few, nowadays, can tell as real and treasurable a story. Moreover, this story is delightfully told. Its simple sentences have a gentle cadence suggesting the plain and gracious prose-poetry of the author of ‘The Time of Man.’ This book’s make-up is entirely in character.

Moore, Anne Carol. Atlantic Bookshelf. November 1932.

For younger children also there is a delightful and absorbing true story called The Little House in the Big Woods (Harpers, $2.00), by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The Big Woods are those of Wisconsin, the house is a log cabin miles from a settlement, and the life of which Mrs. Wilder writes with such lively recollection and keen pleasure is her own childhood experience. An atmosphere of festivity and good comradeship between the children and their elders pervades the book. Helen Sewall (sic) has made drawings in perfect harmony with the text. In design and illustration the book is one of the most distinctive of the year.

Nolte, Claire. Los Angeles County Free Library.

“I read Little House in the Big Woods , and found it absorbingly interesting. Boys and girls whose grandfathers and grandmothers might wax reminiscent while reading the book aloud, ought to delight in it. Children anywhere should find the story of Laura and Mary and sister Carrie equally absorbing. We have so few simple books of pioneer life for younger children, that to discover one as sincere and straightforward as Mrs. Wilder’s is a real find. The incidents are just the type that young people would be curious about – everyday happenings of a life quite different from their own.