LITERATURE WITH LAURA
literature - 1. The collective body of literary productions, embracing the entire results of knowledge and fancy preserved in writing; also, the whole body of literary productions or writings upon a given subject, or in reference to a particular science or branch of knowledge; as, the literature of biblical criticism; the literature of chemistry; and the like. 2. The class of writing distinguished for beauty of style or expression, as poetry, essays, or history, in distinction from scientific treatises, and works which contain positive knowledge; belles-lettres. (Webster, 1882)
Poems, Stories, Books, and Speeches mentioned in the "Little House"® books
Throughout the "Little House"® books, Laura Ingalls Wilder occasionally quotes from or refers to other published works. Some are known titles that remained in the Ingalls or Wilder collections and are on display at one of the heritage homesite museums.
Below are some of the publications or titles arranged by "Little House"® title in which they occur. Click on the links to find more information about specific selections.
Little House in the Big Woods
The Polar and Tropical Worlds (called Pa's big, green animal book), Chapter 5, "Sundays" (stories about lions, tigers, and white bears)
The Catechism, Chapter 5, "Sundays"
Farmer Boy
The Declaration of Independence, from Chapter 16, "Independence Day"
Little House on the Prairie
On the Banks of Plum Creek
Millbank, mentioned in Chapter 13, "A Merry Christmas", Chapter 17, "Moving In", and Chapter 19, "The Fish-Trap"
The Polar and Tropical Worlds (called Wonders of the Animal World), mentioned in Chapter 17, "Moving In"
Unnamed children's magazine, and a Mother Goose book, mentioned in Chapter 22, "Town Party"
Mary's booklet with Bible pictures in it, from Mrs. Tower, Chapter 31, "Surprise"
"The House that Jack Built" - mentioned in Chapter 38, "The Day of Games"
By the Shores of Silver Lake
The Long Winter
The Polar and Tropical Worlds (the great auk from Pa's big green book), mentioned in Chapter 5, "After the Storm" and Chapter 6, "Indian Summer"
"Bo-peep Has Lost Her Sheep" - mentioned as being known by Grace Ingalls in Chapter 22, "Cold and Dark"
"Supposed Speech of Regulus" - from Chapter 22, "Cold and Dark"
"Tubal Cain" - from Chapter 22, "Cold and Dark"
"The Swan's Nest" - Chapter 22, "Cold and Dark"
"Paul Revere's Ride" - from Chapter 22, "Cold and Dark"
The Polar and Tropical Worlds (lions from Pa's big green book)from Chapter 22, "Cold and Dark"
Little Town on the Prairie
Lost..., saying from Chapter 21, "The Madcap Days"
"The Sculptor Boy" - from Chapter 24, "The School Exhibition"
The Declaration of Independence - from Chapter 8, "The Fourth of July"
"The Lotus Eaters" - from Chapter 12, "Snug for Winter" and Chapter 19, "The Whirl of Gaiety"
Stories of the Moorland - from Chapter 19, "The Whirl of Gaiety"
"Maud" - from Chapter 20, "The Birthday Party"
These Happy Golden Years
The Catechism, Chapter 14, "Holding Down a Claim"
The Polar and Tropical Worlds (Carrie and Grace looked at pictures in The Wonders of the Animal World), in Chapter 4, "Sleigh Bells"
Tennyson's poems, mentioned in Chapter 11, "Jingle Bells"
The First Four Years
Scott's Poems and Tennyson's Poems, mentioned in "The First Year"
Waverly Novels, loaned to Laura by a neighbor in "A Year of Grace"
On the Way Home
Scott's Poems and Tennyson's Poems, mentioned by Rose Wilder Lane as books the Wilders owned, in "Part III"
Books Rose borrowed from school, and Laura read to all: William H. Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico and History of the Conquest of Peru; Daniel Pierce Thompson's The Green Mountain Boys; Dinah Maria Mulock Craik's John Halifax, Gentleman; James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, which includes The Deerslayer (1841), The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Pathfinder (1840), The Pioneers (1823), and The Prairie (1827); and S. Laura Ensign's Ancient, Medieval, and Modern History
West from Home
"Art Smith's Story" (republished as The Story of Art Smith) - mentioned in the undated letter from Rose to Laura in which Rose urged her mother to visit her in San Francisco
"Confessions of a Physician" - mentioned in the undated letter from Rose to Laura in which Rose urged her mother to visit her in San Francisco
"Ed Monroe, Man Hunter" - mentioned in letter dated September 11, 1915
"Sailors at Sea on the Zone" (reprinted in West From Home, with letter dated September 15, 1915)
"The People in Our Apartment House" - mentioned in letter dated September 28, 1915
"The Life of Henry Ford" (republished as Henry Ford's Own Story)
literature (LTP 10; THGY 16)
