Farmer Boy Goes West (Little House Sequel)

I love this book! The Little House books are my favorite books. Even as a seventeen year old boy, I really enjoy those books.I just got this book Farmer Boy Goes West yesterday from Amazon and I was so engrossed in it I spent hours yesterday afternoon reading it. I read about eighty percent of it yesterday. Just this afternoon I finished it. I like it better than the original Farmer Boy. This book is about when Father, Mother, Alice, Almanzo, and Perley (their new brother twelve years younger than Almanzo) take trains to get to Spring Valley, Minnesota and see if they want to live there. They see Mrs. Wilder's brother George again and meet his wife Martha for the first time who seems cold and unpleasant. She seems to cheer up after a while though, particularly with baby Perley. Almanzo and Alice make new friends at school in Spring Valley, including a girl named Catherine who Almanzo likes but lacks the courage to go up to her. When he does meet her and get to know her better and even walk her home, he finds out she does not like horses like he does and she only cares about her looks. After spending roughly two years there, Martha marries another man and lives with him and the Wilders get ready to go back to Malone and they will officially move to Spring Valley.I put a review on Farmer Boy saying I did not really like how Almanzo's mother was often bossy and hurrying everyone else nor the way Eliza Jane was bossy. I would say his mother seems more pleasant in this book than in the original Farmer Boy, though Eliza Jane is only bossier. I really like Angeline Wilder (Almanzo's mother) in Farmer Boy Goes West, but Eliza Jane annoys me. She even bossed Almanzo on a letter hundreds of miles away! Ugh!I really wish they would tell what happened afterward when they actually moved to Spring Valley. It would be worth making the book twice as long! I would be willing to read such a long book for that reason. I really hope they make a book about their actual move to Spring Valley and getting settled there. I would be extremely interested to see what actually happened. I have never been on a train, but it sounds extremely fun going on trains like the Wilders did in the book and going in a nicer part of the train where there were beds they could sleep in during the night.Like the books, Little House on the Prairie is my favorite tv show, which I could watch all day. I especially like Back to School, Sweet Sixteen, and He Loves Me He Loves Me Not from Season 6 and the Reincarnation of Nellie from Season 8. I recommend those episodes for anyone who is interested in watching Little House on the Prairie, as well as this book who is a big Little House fan like I am!Almanzo is my favorite Little House character from the books and the shows. I even searched Almanzo on Amazon a while ago and found Farmer Boy Goes West and was interested in reading the book. When I searched Almanzo, I also saw there used to be an Almanzo shirt, but last I saw, it was no longer there. I really wish those shirts were still available! I did not get the chance to order one.I hope any customer who buys this item is as satisfied with it as I am! Good luck to all!

A healthy blend of fact and fiction, Williams captures the essence of the original Little House books, while maintaining an air of her own style. The events in this book are condensed to two years instead of the five years it actually took for the Wilders to make their move from New York to Minnesota. She also took liberties with some of the historical characters. I don't feel that had a negative impact on the story, but those who are sticklers for facts might have an issue with it. I'm hoping not, since this is a truly delightful story. The only thing that really made me stop for a second came in the second chapter, when it said, "One day in January, soon after Almanzo's fourteenth birthday..." Almanzo's birthday is in February. While Wilder did play around with the Wilder siblings' birthdays in Farmer Boy-making Almanzo closer in age to his older brother and sister-as far as I recall, she didn't change the month Almanzo was born.As with any great story, things aren't always easy. Almanzo ends up having to attend a new school in Minnesota. He has to make new friends. He misses his horse, Starlight and older brother, Royal, maybe even his bossy older sister, Eliza Jane. He likes a girl at school, but is shy and has no idea how to get to know her. His Aunt Martha isn't very happy about jamming the Wilders into their tiny home.There are also some neat surprises and interesting historical characters added in, but you won't know what or who those are unless you read the book.I'm thrilled to add Farmer Boy Goes West to my Little House collection.

This was a great follow-up to Farmer Boy. The author showcased Almanzo's love of horses, farming, family and food well. It left me wanting to read another book about Almanzo's life before Laura.

Another great Little House on the Prairie sequel story

Wonderful book for a great price. Great read for any Little House fan.

This is a continuation of the original Wilder story of Farmer Boy. It is not as well written as the original story. Wilder had a much better talent for painting word pictures and evoking the authentic scenario of the time. This book leaves a lot of doubt about the story line and how it would all have fit together. In the last few chapters we get a previously unknown character inserted who is totally out of sync with time and place of this tale.

This book is missing 2 chapters in the middle and some of the chapters are duplicated.

This was a Christmas gift for my brother (who is 13yrs like Almanzo in the book!) and he enjoyed it. My sister also read it and enjoyed it very much. I did not read the whole book, but from what I did read, it sounded quite a bit like Laura's style.

This is an excellent addition to Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books. Here we see the Wilder family, as described in Mrs. Wilder's "Farmer Boy", considering moving west from their farm in New York State. It is decided that some of the family should go to Uncle George's farm in Minnesota to see what its like. So Father, Mother, Alice, Almanzo, and baby Perley ride by various trains to Spring Valley, Minnesota; while Almanzo's big brother Royal and bossy sister Eliza Jane stay to look after the family farm. Aunt Martha isn't very friendly, but they settle in. Almanzo and Alice go to school; Almanzo halts a runaway horse and makes friends with its owner. There are other incidents and we learn about life in these parts at this time - Father buys a farm - with a dog thrown in; and he gives Almanzo a horse - for Almanzo loves horses and misses his horse Starlight, back in New York State. Uncle George falls sick and dies, and the family help Aunt Martha to cope. A young relation from India arrives and keeps everyone agog with his description of life there. And Almanzo gets interested in a pretty girl called Catherine. Alice doesn't think much of her though - and this friendship ends when Almanzo finds out that Catherine doesn't like horses! "Sometime", we are told, "he would go west, and out there he would find another girl - one who was smart and strong and determined and brave. She would love his horses, and she would be a friend and companion to him for the rest of his life". Well, we know who that'll be, don't we! This is a most enjoyable and readable book.I have seen some criticism of it, that it doesn't quite fit in with the actual facts of the Wilder family. The point is that when Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote "Farmer Boy" she did make some alterations to the ages of the Wilder children, among other things. "Farmer Boy Goes West" simply reflects Mrs. Wilder's own changes, and the author has written this book to fit in with Mrs. Wilder's own books. There is a very good "author's note" at the end of the book that explains all this and more. As far as I'm concerned this new author has done an excellent job!

We enjoyed reading this one together as we go through the "original" series as well. You soon forget that Laura did not write it, and the author's note at the end, describing how she put the book together, was icing on the cake. Definitely worth reading for LHP fans.

so interesting