16:00

Here was the book no depression could

16:02

stop. Harper

16:04

bought the book and so at age 65,

16:08

with a hard life of labor and

16:10

disappointment behind her, Laura Ingalls

16:12

Wilder published Little House in the

16:15

Big Woods. On

16:17

April 24th, 1932, the New York Times Book Review gave

16:21

it a single long paragraph under the

16:23

heading Books for Children. The

16:26

reviewer praised the novels refreshingly

16:29

genuine and life-like quality, noting

16:31

the story was full of incidents and

16:33

accounts of daily doings that boys and

16:36

girls will enjoy. She

16:38

cited the memories of pioneer life

16:40

described with zest and humor and

16:43

concluded by writing, the characters are

16:45

very much alive and a portrait

16:47

of Laura's father especially is drawn

16:50

with loving care and reality. The

16:53

book was a success. With

16:55

the book's healthy sales, the idea of

16:58

not only a sequel but a series,

17:00

what we might today call a franchise

17:02

took hold. In the 1930s,

17:05

multi-volume novels weren't written for

17:07

children, but Wilder saw no

17:09

reason why they couldn't be. She

17:12

had enough material for several more books.

17:16

Over the next 11 years, Wilder

17:18

would write seven more books concluding

17:20

with these happy golden years at

17:22

age 76. After

17:25

a life of hardship, she had

17:27

finally achieved prosperity as the burgeoning

17:29

royalties made her a wealthy woman.

17:32

A good portion of her own

17:34

happy golden years were now spent

17:36

responding to the letters she got

17:39

from readers, students and teachers, praising

17:41

her books, sharing their thoughts, describing

17:43

their own personal stories. The

17:46

books would go on to sell 16 million

17:49

copies in many languages. Rose

17:52

meanwhile became a fierce critic of

17:54

Franklin D. Roosevelt criticizing the new

17:56

deal, urging the US to stay

17:58

out of World War II.