“It was a hot afternoon with a strong wind from the south, but out on the Dakota prairie in 1885 no one minded the hot sunshine or the hard winds.”

From Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House: The First Four Years.

After a romantic courtship, Laura and Almanzo get married and the newlyweds must decide the kind of life that they want to have together.  After watching her parents struggle all through her childhood, Laura does not to be a farmer’s wife, but Almanzo convinces her to give farm life a chance for three years.  In order to afford the land and equipment, Almanzo takes out a loan that will be paid back after the first harvest, but disaster strikes, destroying the crop and leaving Almanzo and Laura no choice but to mortgage their claim.  Their second year of marriage brings some happiness as the crops are successful and their daughter, Rose, is born.  However, the heartbreaking challenges return the next year as Almanzo falls dangerously ill, the crops are again destroyed, and debts begin to pile up.  Laura and Almanzo agree to give farming one more year since the first three has been so full of problems, but the fourth year brings more heartbreak than the previous years combined.  However, through all the hardship and struggles, Laura greets the end of the couple’s first four years with a love-fueled optimism for the future that will sustain the couple as they move forward into the unknown.

The ninth and final book in the Little House series is full of charming characters and heartbreaking happenings. Picking up where the previous book left off, Wilder allows the familiarity of the characters to build the backbone of the story. The First Four Years is a more somber piece of historical fiction that highlights both the struggles of the past and the strong power of family that will appeal to older readers, but will also interest younger readers following the series.