Laura Ingalls Wilder is one of the twentieth century's most beloved and acclaimed writers for children. Based on events of her childhood and youth, her series of Little House books, begun when she was in her sixties, continues to delight readers fifty years after the first volume appeared.

When Laura Elizabeth Ingalls was born in the Big Woods near Pepin, Wisconsin, her father, Charles Ingalls, was already thinking of heading to less populated country. In the spring of 1868, shortly after Laura's first birthday, she left Wisconsin with her parents and older sister, Mary. Her aunt and uncle, Polly and Henry Quiner, accompanied the Ingalls family on what would be the first of many moves to locales Laura would someday use as the settings for her books. The travelers settled briefly in Chariton County, Missouri, but after a year, the farming venture there ended. The Quiners returned to the...