Product Description

It's 1845 and Caroline lives in the bustling frontier town of Brookfield, Wisconsin. With trips to town, taking care of farm chores, and getting through the first frost, Caroline is busy discovering new things every day!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50322 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-01
• Released on: 2007-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780061148217
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6?Set in the 1840s, when Brookfield, WI, was a frontier town rapidly increasing in population, this story is the first in yet another series of "Little House" books. It focuses on Caroline Quiner (mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder) as a six-year-old in a family of six children recently left fatherless. Their loving mother brings the grieving family through a difficult winter and into a springtime of hope and anticipation as they work together to cope with the great emptiness left by their father's death. The youngsters experience apprehension concerning the first day of school and the embarrassment of wearing worn clothing and shoes with holes. No matter what the difficulty, Mother and Grandmother kindly and firmly guide the children to accept and make the very best of their situation. They relish the special Christmas bread that Mother bakes and appreciate the kindness of helpful neighbors. As the family survives the hardships of rural-frontier life, they grow in strength, experience, and love for one another. The story works well as historical fiction, giving great attention to interesting details of daily events. Black-and-white drawings provide a clear extension of the text. This warm family story follows nicely in the style of the "Little House" books.?Toni Dean, Patchogue-Medford Library, NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover
Caroline Quiner lives in the bustling frontier town of Brookfield, Wisconsin. It’s been one whole year since Caroline’s father was lost at sea, and every member of her family must now pitch in to help with the farm chores. Between trips to town, getting through the first frost, and starting school, Caroline is busy discovering new things every day!

About the Author

Maria D. Wilkes first read the Little House books as a young girl and has been fascinated by pioneer history ever since. She did extensive research on the Quiner, Ingalls, and Wilder families, studied original sources and family letters and diaries, and worked in close consultation with several historians and the Laura Ingalls Wilder estate as she wrote the Caroline Years books. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, Peter, and her daughters, Grace and Natalie.

Customer Reviews

I love all the Little House books
This is a wonderful story about Caroline Quiner--Laura's ma. Starting in her young childhood, it offers an absorbing and substantial but child's-eye view of what being poor and without your father is like: lonliness, fear, patched clothing, cornmeal pudding for breakfast, penny-pinching. But there is also joy and hope, and the close-knit family laughs and loves as they raise crops and take care of their hens and hogs. I loved it!

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Mother
Imagine getting up every morning at the crack of dawn to a day full of chores and work. This is the life that Caroline Quiner knows. She is in charge of checking to see if the corn is ripe, feeding the chickens, collecting eggs, working on her sampler, and many other jobs. Although her life is full of hard work, she and her siblings Martha, Henry, Joseph, and Eliza still manage to have fun. They love playing games outside, especialy fox and geese, which they play in the snow.
Snow, however, is just the thing the Quiners are dreading. Many of their vetables were killed by an early frost, and their isn't much flour left in the house.The Quiners are determined to survive the winter though, and nothing is going to get them down!
I enjoyed reading this book because it was realistic and the description was great. It was interesting to read about Laura Ingalls Wilder's mother. If I could change one thing from the book, it would be to make it longer!

Fantastic!
I really think that this book was great. You can get deeply into it, and it is intersting. It is also fun to read. Caroline Quiner, the main character in this book, struggles to help her mother all that she can. Her older sister, Martha, is a tomboy, and all the time wants to be with Caroline's older brothers, Joseph and Henry. Caroline has a younger sister and a younger brother, Eliza and Thomas. This book is absalutly excellent.