7 Best Books Like Little House On The Prairie Update 04/2024

Books Like Little House On The Prairie

Anyone who is acquainted with my persona The Little House series is one of my favorite series of books. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s series, better known as Little House on the Prairie, has captivated my attention since I was a child. My heart went out to the family as they described their nomadic rural life in such beautiful terms.

We Could All Use Feel Good Nostalgia Right Now

Little House On The Prairie

Taking a step back, the Little House books really do have something to interest people of all ages and backgrounds. If you’re looking for heartwarming tales of family life, look no further. Almost every book contains dangerous situations such as blizzards, huge fires, and drowning if you’re looking for a survival adventure. The life on the frontier was a dangerous one. Maybe you’re interested in learning about nature, cooking, historical chores, or farm life in general. These are all great places to start. That’s correct, they have it as well.

I recently reread the entire series and was filled with the same sense of wonder I had when I was a kid. Despite its flaws, Little House on the Prairie is still a beloved classic.

The Covid-19 pandemic is still raging, so I needed something to take my mind off things. However, I was unable to locate any “Books like Little House on the Prairie for adults” when I conducted a search. Laura Ingalls Wilder-related reading was not included in any of the lists, which disappointed me. The Ingalls and Wilder families fascinate me. I even compiled a reading list of books about Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Books that Give that Little House Feeling

Maybe you’d prefer to stick with the published works? Be patient with me, please! A bingo card is being prepared for you by me.

But what about right now? What I was looking for was more like Little House on the Prairie than just Laura Ingalls Wilder stories set in the American West. If you’re only interested in Pioneer-related books, Goodreads is the place for you.

Unfortunately, I was unable to locate that list. If you’re looking for books like Little House on the Prairie for adults, you’re in luck because I’ve put together a list of my favorite adult equivalents. Be warned, though: These aren’t always books about happiness. Now that you’ve been warned, proceed with caution!

1. Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing

When you’re reading Delia Owens’ books, you’ll be transported to the marshy coast of North Carolina. The adoration given to the book’s descriptions evokes the same adoration for nature and the prairies that Laura had for them.

When Kya is a young girl, she’s left alone in the marshes to learn the rhythms of nature by running wild. Because of her background as a natural biologist, she has learned far more from simple observation than most people could through years of formal education. In addition to evoking the daily chores and activities described in the Little House books, Where the Crawdads Sing captures the suspense and thrill of danger that readers have come to expect from the series. Laura wasn’t by herself; she had her family to lean on. Kya, on the other hand, is completely on her own. A murder mystery and you’ve got a page-turner for me.

2. The Cure for Death by Lightning

The Cure for Death by Lightning

Death by lightning was treated with a cold water bath for two hours, followed by the addition of vinegar and another hour of soaking. The cure was handwritten in thick, messy blue ink in my mother’s scrapbook alongside the recipe for my father’s favorite oatmeal cake.

This cannot be denied. After reading the first few pages, I was completely sucked in by Gail Anderson-writing Dargatz’s style. It takes place in a small Canadian farming community in the Cure for Death by Lightning film. The residents of this small town live in fear of the supernatural because strange and unexplainable things keep happening in their neighborhood. With her lightning-numbing arm, Beth is coming of age in a harsh, post-World War II world.

Recipes from Beth’s mother’s scrapbook appear throughout The Cure for Death by Lightning. These books transport me to a reimagined version of Little House on the Prairie because of the way food and the world are described. It’s one in which things are darker, Ma is more cherished than Pa, and Pa… is distrusted.

3. Flat Broke with Two Goats

Flat Broke with Two Goats

Obviously, this is a controversial choice, and I’ll be the first to admit that. Foreclosure is looming on Jennifer McGaha’s home, and she needs to downsize as quickly as possible. In her nonfiction book, she describes her experience.

The way she accomplishes this is by moving to a remote part of North Carolina and renting a cabin that’s overrun with vermin such as mice and snakes, among other things. The problem is that she may feel responsible for many of these problems. Instead of losing money in the stock market, she lost money to unpaid taxes.

For the moment, I found myself identifying with the descriptions of the struggles of making a house livable and raising farm animals. It evokes memories of Pa having to build house after house on stolen land, abandoning some of them. I enjoyed this book because of the descriptions and the way it depicts nature-based living.

4. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

We’ve already discussed how captivating beautiful descriptive passages can be. Dillard’s lyrical poem is a perfect example of a descriptive piece of writing. It’s almost as if this was Laura’s destiny all along. Laura could have written these words if she had been born in a different era. era. era. Shed

The writing is straightforward in an unpretentious way, and it soothed my nerves. My favorite thing about the Little House books is how peaceful they make you feel. With a little squinting, you can almost imagine Dillard as an adult Laura, writing about Plum Creek.

A closed book on a shelf continues to whisper its own endless tale, which has always been a happy thought to me: the creek runs all night, new every minute, whether I wish it or know it or care.

5. The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle

Much like Jeannette Walls’ life, Laura Ingalls Wilder had a lot of similarities to Jeannette Walls. Both of them were impoverished, and their families struggled to make ends meet on a regular basis. The fathers of both had a magnetic personality, and their mothers adored their fathers above all else. Finally, they were both nomads who moved between urban areas and rural areas, then returned to cities. They didn’t get what they expected, but they were both able to further their education on their own.

Addiction makes all the difference in the world. While Charles and Caroline are depicted in glowing terms in the Little House books, the Glass Castle can’t afford to be so forgiving of them. Rose Mary and Rex are the root of all their family’s problems. Unlike the Ingalls, whose mother and father managed to keep the family together, the Walls are as erratic as their patriarch.

Even though it’s a difficult read, it’s well worth it. This book has the potential to be my favorite of the bunch.

6. Educated

Educated

Educated, like the Glass Castle, is a difficult book to get through. Country living and close family ties are present, but Pa’s cheery generosity is absent. It has the distinct impression that Pa could have ended up in this situation if he were a more villainous individual.

Reading Little House on the Prairie again, it became clear that Pa wasn’t just wagering against Uncle Sam. He was also placing a bet on the well-being of his family. In Educated, there is a similar sense of purposefulness. Government can take a long walk off a short pier while they live their lives as they see fit.

I get the impression that Educated is a father from another dimension who is a tyrant with no idea how to protect his children. In some ways, it’s the most bleak timeline in the Little House series, but it’s also the most compelling.

7. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Fannie Flagg is a creative genius in every sense of the word. Despite the fact that it should be a tragic tale, I adore this book. It’s filled with so much love that, of all the books on this list, I believe this one best captures the book’s loving spirit. Mrs. Threadgoode, an elderly woman, tells her friend Evelyn about two women from the 1930s in the 1980s. A small cafe in Alabama used to be run by Idgie and Ruth. In the end, it’s all about family, both biological and adopted.

However, if I recited the movie’s plot line beat for beat, it would sound depressing. In the end, the book is uplifting. All of the right notes are hit, and the gentle atmosphere of the Little House books is successfully recreated. It’s like listening to your grandfather play the fiddle late at night when it’s at its best. What it does is assure people that things will improve, even if they are facing a difficult situation right this minute.