On the Banks of Plum Creek
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| On the Banks of Plum Creek | |
| Author | Laura Ingalls Wilder |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Little House |
| Genre(s) | Family Saga Western |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers, Later, Scholastic |
| Publication date | 1937 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Preceded by | Little House on the Prairie |
| Followed by | By the Shores of Silver Lake |
On the Banks of Plum Creek is a children's book written in 1937 by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The fourth of nine books written in her Little House series, it is based on Laura's childhood at Plum Creek near Walnut Grove, Minnesota in late 19th Century.
[edit] Plot
The Ingalls family moves from Kansas to Minnesota and settle in a dugout "on the banks of Plum Creek" as in the book's title. Pa trades his horses Pet and Patty to the property owner (a man named Hanson) for the land and crops, but later gets two new horses as Christmas presents for the family, which Laura and her sister Mary name "Sam" and "David". Pa soon builds a fine, new aboveground wooden house for the family. The house is near a town called Walnut Grove. During this story, Laura and Mary go to school for the first time where they meet their teacher, Miss Eva Beadle. They also meet Nellie Oleson, who makes fun of Laura and Mary for being "country girls". Laura plays with her bulldog Jack when she is home, and she and Mary are invited to a party at the Oleson's home. Laura and Mary invite all the girls (including Nellie) to a party at their house to reciprocate. The family soon goes through hard times when a plague of Rocky Mountain Locusts decimate their crops. The book ends with Laura's Pa returning safely to the house after being unaccounted for during a severe four day blizzard. Laura is portrayed in this book as being from being seven to nine years old.
In real life, the Ingalls family moved to Minnesota from Wisconsin. Also, Jack did not come with the family to Plum Creek, but remained in Wisconsin with the mustangs, Pet and Patty. (The Ingalls family eventually acquired another dog named Wolf[citation needed]. Wolf was believed to be left behind after the Ingalls family moved to Minnesota.) Her readers liked Jack so much that Laura decided to include him in this book, and in By the Shores of Silver Lake. Laura used Jack's death in By the Shores of Silver Lake as the transition from Laura's childhood to her adolescence. Another difference between the book and Laura's life was the birth of her brother, Charles Frederick Ingalls. However, the baby died in 1876 when Laura's father moved his family to her Uncle Peter's farm in South Troy, Minnesota, and then on to Burr Oak, Iowa. That was a painful time for the family, so Laura never included her baby brother in her books.
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