Little House in the Big Woods

Little House, Book 1

By: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Narrated by: Cherry Jones

Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

The book that started it all! Little House in the Big Woods is the first book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's treasured Little House series, which is based on her life growing up as an American pioneer.

Told from four-year-old Laura's point of view, this story begins in 1871 in a little log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. Laura lives in the little house with her pa, her ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and their trusty dog, Jack. Pioneer life is sometimes hard for the family, since they must grow or catch all their own food as they get ready for the cold winter. But it is also exciting as Laura and her family celebrate Christmas with homemade toys and treats, do the spring planting, bring in the harvest, and make their first trip into town. And every night they are safe and warm in their little house, with the happy sound of Pa's fiddle sending Laura and her sisters off to sleep.

And so begins Laura Ingalls Wilder's beloved story of a pioneer girl and her family. The nine Little House books have been cherished by generations of readers and listeners as both a unique glimpse into America's frontier history and a heartwarming, unforgettable story.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts.

©1932, 1960 Little House Heritage Trust (P)2007, 2016 HarperCollins Publishers

ketchup on mignon

I can’t tell you what a disappointment these narrations are. Of course Harper Collins can no longer be trusted to do anything right and I hear they’re of the verge of editing the marrow out of these wonderful works—probably the greatest pieces of American Literature. Ingalls makes Hemingway, Melville or Fitzgerald look like pompous pretentious adolescents.

Jones narration is an insult. She doesn’t do everything wrong—Ma is very good. But as a gestalt, she is ketchup on fillet mignon. Please redo the entire set. It is a cultural imperative. Despite her best efforts she cannot destroy the beauty of these works but where oh where does she get the idea to use a Southern drawl and why would she conceive that Pa is tone deaf and worse. He is after all a violinist. She infantilizes the speech of the girls by blurring the final consonants and extending the vowels in the most obnoxious, and I think culturally prejudicial way. These people are in no way backward or ignorant. The minute Cherry proposes to sing, any responsible director would have shoved her out of the studio and locked the door. Even worse, her affects are often inappropriate to the situation….it is hopeless, it must be redone.
And if you think what I’m asking is impossible…not at all: Killian’s narration of Fagle’s Odyssey is superb….not overacted, not unconsciously sneering.

Great story; bad narrator; horrible fiddle playing.

It was a great story, but spoiled by the narrator's singing and the playing of Pa's fiddle. I especially disliked he way the narrator spoke Pa.

Little House in the Big Woods-- good book, annoying narrator.

I really liked the story, but the narrator was so annoying I returned the book after the 2nd chapter..

2 complaints

wasn't real crazy about the narration and her enunciation. that could have been better. js

Kids would give it 6 stars

This reading of Little House kept my seven year old boy and four year old girl quiet for the almost four hours and now they are playing house. They say they would give it six stars if they could. This tired mama would give it six stars too. I liked that the songs were actually sung/played...I grew up on this series but didn't know how all the songs went. So far we've listened to both this and Farmer Boy and will continue repeating them until we get our next credit next month!

So good

I am only 7 but my family and me listened to it in the car I hated it at the start but then I found out that it was true and now I love it I also like the show👍🏼

GRANDMA WAS JIGGING

HORSE POWER, HONEY, MAPLE SYRUP, CURDS, CHEESE, ETC.
This is a wonderful book. I am middle aged and I loved it. I think kids of any age will love parts of it. Like a Jean Auel book, a lot of time is spent in explaining how to make cheese, gather honey, cook maple syrup and so on. These explaining parts might get a little dry for the average kid. The book is also full of stories as told by Laura's dad. These stories are extremely entertaining for kids and adults. As a whole I believe kids of all ages will like it.

Cherry Jones
I read the hard back copy years ago. I remember liking the book, but not loving it. Jones made me love it.

I live 45 minutes from Mansfield Mo. That is where Laura and her husband moved and where she wrote all these books. They have kept her house in good shape and they have a museum. It is nothing fancy, I would not drive hundreds of miles out of the way to see it, but if your in the area it is well worth it. It is right off of highway 60.

Great book!!! But.....

It annoys me that sometimes cherry Jones goes somethin' and sometimes something!!!!! Does it bother anyone else? Also my mom , aunt , and grammar love these books me to.I think my little brother ( when he can read) will love his book. This was the first chapter book I ever read. Love it!!!!!! My uncle likes them to .I wish L.I.W. was still alive so she could write more. My favorite book out of this series is farmer boy. I like Jack and Susan. I love animals. Bye. Hope I'm helpful in your choosing of books out of this series. Fantastico!!

Childhood favorite

I loved this book as a child, but really struggled with the Narrator of this audiobook. I was almost unable to finish. It is probably suited to the kids the book is aimed for, but to my older ears, she was hard to listen to. Still love the story, though.

Little book of short stories

The biggest answer that was found in this book, Little House in the Big Woods, was that Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book first book of the Little House on the Prairie series was based in Wisconsin, not Missouri like her house and Museum. The book was mostly sets of stories that her father and snapshot of life where they lived on wheat farm. There was hints of a town near by that the family went to a dance as a special trip of celebration. It snowed and it was twisted into a short story about Mister Frost and the pictures he painted. They’re was a short story about the machine age as her father used a machine to shred the wheat. It has a story about one of their Christmases snd talked about how the longer than normal winter made the maple trees produce more sap that was used to make sugar for the year. The book touch briefly on Mary and Laura’s relationship as sister. It also introduced the reader to a town girl with brown curly hair. Mary had blonde hair and told Laura that blonde hair was prettier to an brown hair like Laura had. It appears that the combination of these two figure might be the foundation of the character, Nellie Oleson, in later books. Overall this was a decent opening book to the series to set the ground work for the future books in the series as a good starting point of life in the wild from a perspective 4 year old that mirrored Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life as a child in the 1870s in Wisconsin.

Little House In The Big Woods Review

I liked the songs that were played on the fiddle.
I would recommend this calming audiobook to my dad because he is nearly always a bit angry.
I think it’s very calming and when I listen to it before bed I always fall asleep with the most wonderful dreams.

Lovely book!

Knew this story already, but the narrator really bought it to life. Love it!
Phoebe aged 10

I love this series!

I can't explain how much I adore these books, the tv show and now the audiobooks. Such a lovely job done by the narrator, I honestly can't fault it. An audio book that everyone should listen to from age 1 to 99!!

wonderful

Re visited at age 54 yrs and as good as it was at 8 yrs. I appreciated it more knowing as an adult that it isn't a work of fiction but a genuine story of growing up in a time that is long gone.Captivating.Cherry Jones was a perfect narrator and the fiddle playing is a wonderful touch.

Still as good!!!

Last read these books in school. I have enjoyed re-discovering these classics. I really need to read more about the settlers of the Mid West. Have just seen a bio of Laura Ingalls Wilder, I must try that next.

Lovely gentle book

I was tired of listening to "grown up" books at bedtime and decided to escape back to my childhood.

I have never read Laura Ingalls Wilders books, but loved the television series. The books are even better if you are a lover of history. The details she goes into regarding managing a home, cooking, dress making etc added to farming methods was not something I expected and definitely an added bonus.

Amazing!!!!!!!!

it was amazing!!! the story was excellent and the narrator portrayed the emotions well overall I recommend this book very much

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I LOVE IT
I LOVE LAURA INGALLS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH
SHE IS THE BESTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

THANK YOU

Thanks we loved it!

Great story! Listened to it as a family on our journey to holiday in Wales!

nice story shame about the reader's voice

love the story, remember my mum reading this to us as kids. I really struggled with the reader, she had a rather irritating drawly voice that took some getting used to.