On the Banks of Plum Creek: A Newbery Honor Award Winner (Little House, 4)

by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Book Overview

Based on the real-life adventures of Laura Ingalls Wilder, On the Banks of Plum Creek is the Newbery Honor-winning fourth book in the Little House series, which has captivated generations of readers.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060264705
• Release Date: October 1953
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 1.1" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Life in Minnesota

On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder The Ingalls family left their little house on the prairie and traveled across Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa into Minnesota. Pa trades his hoses etc. for the crops, land, and dugout house; he wonders about the small field. The book describes their life in their new home. Ma warns Laura against being naughty, since something dreadful can happen (Chapter 5). Laura and Mary have happy care-free days after they do their chores. But they learn that straw is stacked for use, not for play (Chapter 8). Autumn is unusually warm, no snow at Thanksgiving. Old-timers call it "grasshopper weather". Pa would like to get a team of horses, because oxen are too slow for harrowing and harvesting. Mary and Laura would make a button-string for their little sister Carrie. Christmas brought them their usual treats, and a team of horses for Pa. Spring brought heavy rains, and a high creek. Laura's rashness is shown by the foot bridge and the swift running stream (Chapter 15). Now that they live close to town Laura and Mary can go to school. Laura plays a devilish trick on haughty Nellie (Chapter 13). "Look girls, how Nellie can dance!" As the Ingalls family settled near town, they became more dependent on things made by others, and their cash crop of wheat (Chapter 24). But the tragedy of an enormous plague of grasshoppers falls on their land, their crops are devoured. Burning old dirty hay for smoke did not stop them (Chapter 25). Pa went to work to earn money. Grasshoppers laid their eggs everywhere, when they hatched next year they will again devour the crops. Pa will travel east to find work. A cloud brings rain, and things start growing again. A letter arrives from Pa; he found work and sent them money. When the Ingalls go to town shopping, Laura meets Nellie and gets a little education about class (Chapter 30). But Laura remembers angels don't wear fur capes. [No mention of Nellie's problem of self-esteem.] At the church Christmas party Laura receives a fur cape and muff! This and Mary's coat were donated from back East (Chapter 31). When spring came, the grasshoppers hatched and devoured the crops. Then they walked and flew to the west (Chapter 32). A prairie fire threatened their house. They harvested potatoes and turnips for the winter. Mary and Laura bring in wood for the stove before the blizzard hits. Pa had left for town before the blizzard came, and Ma had to go to the barn to feed the animals and milk the cow. This heavy snow means they will have a bumper crop of wheat next year. It tells how Pa survived the blizzard after being caught out in the open. The book ends with the family united for Christmas.

this was my favorite of the Little House series

This book is both joyful and heartbreaking. As a child I spent hours acting out the story with my dolls...the oxen, the horses named Sam and David, the little church in town, the nice girls and the snobby girls in school, the flags and rushes on the creek, the horrible grasshoppers and Pa's being away for so long while he went to find work....This is a very detailed, gripping story that really makes time fly. I loved it best of all the books in the series, and I really liked them all!

On the Banks of Plum Creek

Laura and her family have moved to a small farm near Walnut Grove in Minnesota. They will have to adapt to Minnesota, the sod house, and a lot more. Laura Ingalls is a seven year old girl who loves to explore the creek, and is daddies little angel. Laura lives with her Ma, Pa , her two sisters Marry and Carrie, and their loyal companion and bulldog Jack. Pa goes out to get lumber and builds a beautiful new house with windows and he farms wheat to earn money. One day Pa said that in a couple weeks the wheat would soon be ready to pick. Then they see this peculiar sparkling cloud that filled the sky. Shortly after countless numbers of grasshoppers cover the field, the creek, and the rest of the farm, including Laura and her family. The grasshoppers consumed every plant including the wheat that Pa worked so hard to grow. Mary and Laura start to go to school and on their first day they met many friends and some foes. one of their rivals was named Nellie who had a party and invited all the girls from school. Nellie was very rude and very cruel to Mary and Laura. Laura decided to have a party as well, and invited all the girls from school. Laura invites Nellie particulary to get back at her, and boy did she do a clever and a funny prank on Nellie. Then the Ingalls experienced blizzards, storms, and prairie fires which were very devastating. After all the work the family put into the farm and the wheat, their work finally payed off. This book had lots of surprising, unpredictable, and very exciting events. If I could rate this book on a scale of one through ten, I would give this book a ten. Once I started to read this book I couldn't put it down, because I was so hooked on it. This book is fantastic and is great for every age, and great for every age, and should be enjoyed by everyone. If your looking for a great book that will excite, delight, suprise, and grasp your attention, On the Banks of Plum Creek is just the book your looking for.

Favorite childhood book

This whole series was one of my favorite when I was a kid. I still have warm memories over it, and, strangely enough, I'm using it right now in an essay I'm writing in college. I just wanted to tell anyone who's looking at it that this is a very good book, they all are, you should definately buy it.

On the Banks Of Plum Creek

No one can really explain the hardships and wonders of movingwest in the 1800s, or what it was like.After reading all the LittleHouse books I find this one the best one of the series. The books takes on from the previous book(Little House On The Parrie), as the Ingall's family moves out to Minnisota, where they buy land and a place called home. There home is very near Plum Creek and three miles to town. As they lived together, they face fears, hope, blizzards and locus,and learn that disasters won't destroy them. This story grabed me and made me go into the book and made me expierenced the story with them.