I loved the Little House stories when I was a little girl, because, hey, who didn't! This one was not actually written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but it was writen by Cynthia Rylant, also an excellent children's author. Apparently about this time period, Laura only wrote about 17 pages of things...ever. That's pretty crazy. In this book Laura is eight years old. This is the time period of Nellie Olson and Walnut Grove. At the beginning of the book Laura's family is living in a rented house behind the church in Walnut Grove. The last couple of years have been bad ones for their farm with the grasshopper invasions on the prairie. Pa and Ma are hoping for a good harvest this year so that they can pay off their bills. But lots of things happen this year, baby Freddie is born and Ma's liver makes her very sick, so the doctor bills that Pa owes are getting larger and Laura and Mary are learning how to care for their family in Ma's absence. Unfortunately the crickets come back and the family knows that they will no longer be able to stay on their farm in the comfortable little house. But will city living agree with the Ingalls family? This was a fun book. I enjoyed the story and I thought that Cynthia Rylant's style meshed well with Laura's style. I hope for more finds like this one in the Public Library!Labels: Childrens