little house on the prairie hardback book set

It has also been released as an audio book. Smith, and narrated by Sterling Holloway. The book was also made into a 1952 animated short by Walt Disney, directed by Wilfred Jackson, story adapted by Bill Peet and Bill Cottrell, musical score by Paul J. When the great-great-granddaughter discovers that it is the same house, she arranges to have her moved out of the city, to a hill in the country where she can once again watch the seasons pass and live happily ever after. One day the great-great-granddaughter of the builder sees the house and remembers stories that her grandmother told about living in just such a house, but far out in the country. Now standing in a large city, the house is sad because she misses being on the small hill in the countryside and her exterior looks shabby. Finally, two gigantic skyscrapers are built, one on each side. Streetcars, an elevated railroad, and a subway start running past the house. Next, the small houses are replaced by tenements and apartments. This is followed by roadside stands, gas stations, and more little houses. The house watches the seasons pass, and wonders about the lights of the city, which grow ever closer.Įventually, a road is built in front of the house. Her builder decrees that she 'may never be sold for gold or silver', but is built sturdy enough to one day see his great-great-grandchildren's great-great-grandchildren living in her.

The story centers on a house built at the top of a small hill, far out in the country. Primitive man thought in pictures, not in words, and this visual conception is far more fundamental than its sophisticated translation into verbal modes of thought'. 'If the page is well drawn and finely designed, the child reader will acquire a sense of good design which will lead to an appreciation of beauty and the development of good taste. Being a very visually driven book, many times Burton changed the amount of text to fit the illustration. Burton denied it was a critique of urban sprawl, but instead wished to convey the passage of time to younger readers.

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, it was the recipient of the Caldecott Medal for illustration in 1943.Īuthor Virginia Lee Burton has stated that 'The Little House was based on our own little house which we moved from the street into a field of daisies with apple trees growing around'.

The Little House is a 1942 children's picture book written and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton.

Little house on the prairie hardback book set