Originally published in 1940, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Long Winter is a middle-grade historical fiction novel and the sixth installment of the classic Little House series. Following the perspective of 13-year-old Laura Ingalls and 19-year-old Almanzo Wilder (Laura’s future husband), the novel centers around the uncharacteristically harsh winter in 1880-1881 that brought seven months of blizzards, and hence halted trains and supplies, to the Dakota Territory and the homesteaders living there. Wilder’s autobiographical fiction draws from her childhood memories of pioneer life and explores themes of Self Sacrifice for the Greater Good, Pioneer Resilience and Ingenuity, and The Beauty and Danger of the Natural World. Wilder paints a picture of frontier life and the values that drove her family and others to move west.

This study guide refers to the print edition released by Scholastic Inc. in partnership with HarperCollins Publishers in 2004.

Content Warning: The source material contains racist language toward Indigenous Americans and ableism. The guide uses the term “Indian” for Indigenous American in direct quotes only.

Plot Summary

In 1880, the Ingalls family lives in the Dakota Territory in De Smet, which is a recently formed frontier town. The Ingalls family includes Pa, Ma, Mary, who is blind, Laura, Carrie, and Grace. Pa received 160 acres through the Homestead Act of 1862.

Fall begins, and the family does not get much food stored for winter because it is their first year on the homestead. Ma makes use of every bit of produce they can collect. Pa has spent most of his savings on a mower, which means that he cannot afford to hire someone to help with collecting hay. Laura offers to help, and Pa is at first skeptical about her abilities, but he is appreciative of her help. Laura and Pa collect enough hay to feed the animals in winter, and Laura’s contribution ends up becoming integral to the family’s survival because the hay is also used for fuel to keep their house warm when they run out of coal.

When a brutal blizzard hits in October, and an Indigenous man tells the townspeople that winter will last seven months, Pa moves the family to town as a precaution. The building in town is much better built than the claim shanty, and the Ingallses will have access to supplies. Ma and Mary are excited, but Laura dreads moving into town. Laura is used to the isolation of the homestead and, while the town is very small, it is still too much noise and activity for her. Laura attends school with Carrie, and she is nervous, but she learns to love attending school and she makes new friends.

Laura still plans to fulfill her mother’s dream of having one of her children become a teacher. Laura does not want to become a teacher, but she feels duty-bound to do so to help her family financially, particularly to help pay for Mary’s education at a college for the blind. Originally, Mary wanted to become a teacher, and her temperament and academic prowess made her well-suited to the profession, but her blindness prevents her. While Laura quarrels with Mary on occasion, Laura is devoted to helping Mary learn everything she would have if she could have attended school. Laura reads her lessons to Mary, and Mary does arithmetic in her head while Laura practices on a slate. Often, Laura describes their surroundings to Mary so that Mary can “see” the world.

Laura’s education is interrupted because repeated blizzards keep her from attending school more than one day per week, and then the lack of coal closes school for the remainder of the winter and spring. Ma encourages Laura to complete her schoolwork at home with Mary and Carrie, and she diligently works on her lessons. However, the continued isolation and hardships affect the girls’ willingness to work on their lessons.

When the trains stop completely, De Smet runs out of supplies, most importantly coal and wheat. Pa provides as well as he can, but it is Almanzo Wilder and Cap Garland who eventually save the town by traveling 20 miles in search of a homestead with wheat to sell. Yet another blizzard descends as they are nearing De Smet, and Almanzo and Cap nearly miss the town completely, which would have led to their deaths. The wheat that the two young men return with allows the families to survive the rest of the spring until the train finally arrives in May.

When a train brings supplies and their long-awaited Christmas barrel, the Ingallses celebrate by having Christmas in May and inviting friends to share it with them. The Ingallses and Boasts discuss the winter and how they all survived, and are grateful for making it through those months relatively unscathed. The book ends on an optimistic note, as the family prepares to repair the homestead and return to it later in the spring.