[.ca] These Happy Golden Years (ISBN 0064400085)

Laura Grows Up:
If you look at Laura's life before and after this book, you will see that the title is perfect. Her life before this was always a struggle, never having enough, never being satified. It was the same way after this book. Sure, things were good many times. There were happy moments and happy times. But never in her history before or after were things so consistently good. Pa and the family are totally successful: no locusts, no droughts, no long winters. Their wealth steadily increases. Thanks to Laura's teaching job, they can afford the blind college for Mary. Laura can buy fancy dresses and hats, She is a beautiful teenager and many boys are asking her out for a buggy ride. She will only go with Almonzo, and they have many pleasant times together. Finally at the end of the book she is married at age 18. This book teaches things like the other books in the series. This time we learn the manners of dating and how a young woman is to act both in her career and in her relationship. Laura doesn't always follow the "rules" but we learn what they are. And Mary asks an interesting question of Laura when she finds she will be married: Why do you want to go live with that Wilder boy? It's a question for us all. Why do we want to get married? There are a million answers and we all have our own. Laura gives only one answer. It doesn't really answer Mary's question and yet I believe the engaged can relate to it. In learning about the Amish I find their life is similar: a long boring childhood filled with lots of work, married life that is even more work and always a struggle, and in between, These Happy Golden Years where a person reaches young adulthood and spends a good deal of time socializing and meeting friends and having many happy times. This is the perfect place for the "Little House" series to end. But if you're like me, You'll keep reading: The First Four Years(Laura and Almonzo's new marriage), Farmer Boy(Almonzo's childhood), and Little House in the Ozarks(a collection of newspaper articles Laura wrote as an adult). Then I guess it will be time to visit the "Little House" museum in Minnesota!

A great read...and re-read:
This book was one I read and read again over the course of my childhood. I enjoyed the beauty of Wilder's fiction and Garth William's fine illustration. Definitely discover the books in order and rediscover them often!

A golden review:
The book These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder is wonderful! The story is about Laura who is teaching because her sister Mary has gone blind. Laura has to become a teacher to live up to her mothers expectations. Almanzo Wilder and Laura are dating and Almanzo proposes. Almanzo's family hears about it and his mother and sister are coming to plan the wedding their way! Laura and Almanzo have to figure out a way to get married their way! I would recommend this book to a friend my age. I suggest you read the whole collection first so you can understand it better.

A Wonderful Conclusion to Laura's Teenage Years!:
This book tells about Laura Ingalls Wilder's teenage life. She goes from care free child to grown school teaching adult. The book shows what it was like to be a teenager in the late 1800's. What kind of parties they had, for instance sleigh rides and birthday. Plus, what it was like falling in love and courting!This book is a lot of fun and a wonderful conclusion to the "Little House" books. If you have any time at all I would really recommend reading this delightful book!

"So they were married.":
In this autobiographical book, Laura Ingalls describes her life from her first teaching job at the age 15, to her marriage at 18. The loneliness and isolation she faced as a young teacher are described in touching detail. Laura lived with a cold-hearted woman and spent her nights studying so she would be ready to teach her students (some older than she) the next day. The only bright spot in the week came on Fridays, when Almanzo Wilder drove her to her parents' home. She was not interested in him as a beau; it was three years before she agreed to marry him. Written in 1943, this is a lovely, informative, and inspiring book that girls (and their mothers) will enjoy. Though there is no romance or sentimentality, we do get lots of Ma's wise sayings, Pa's fiddle playing, and Laura's spunky independence. Mostly we learn just how hard life was in the Dakota Territory in the 1880s. This is an easy-to-read book that will delight 9- and 10-year olds, especially those who enjoy "Little House on the Prairie" on TV.