Product Description

Meet Rose Wilder, Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, and the last of the Little House girls.

Rose and her parents, Laura and Almanzo, say good-bye to Ma and Pa Ingalls and Laura's sisters. In a covered wagon containing all their possessions, they make their way across the drought-stricken Midwest to the lush green valleys of southern Missouri. The journey is long and not always easy, but at the end is the promise of a new home and a new life for the Wilders.

Little House on Rocky Ridge is the first book in The Rose Years, an ongoing series about another spirited girl from America's most beloved pioneer family.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #97524 in Books
• Published on: 1993-05-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From Publishers Weekly
MacBride, the sole heir of Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter Rose Wilder Lane, delivers the first installment of his faithfully minded series sequel to the hallowed Little House books. As it opens, Laura, husband Almanzo and seven-year-old Rose embark on what will be a final migration, from South Dakota to Missouri. Pieced in part from Rose's written account of that trip, interviews with contemporaries and historians, and other research, the story centers on Rose's adventures and scrapes, and, like its models, pays tribute to the strength and security of a close family. But while pains have clearly been taken to ensure the book's authenticity and while the book is entertaining, it lacks the magic of the originals. MacBride simply does not have Laura Ingalls Wilder's understanding of girlhood, nor does he share her remarkable sense for the memorable detail. Although he endows Rose with her mother's quick mind and lively, determined nature, she is never as fully human as the fictional Laura. That Laura, here known as Bess (the name Almanzo used for her), becomes a distant figure, an industrious, Bible-loving wise woman who cares what the neighbors think of her housekeeping. MacBride and his publisher deserve complements for their integrity, however, and many young Little House fans will be grateful for their efforts. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 3-6. A sequel to Little House on Rocky Ridge (1993), the second entry in the Rocky Ridge Years series follows the Wilders through their first spring and summer living near Mansfield, Missouri. Papa Almanzo hires a young orphan to help with the farm work; Mama Bess (Laura) worries about family finances and nearly refuses a beautiful new stove purchased for her by Almanzo; and eight-year-old Rose becomes a champion speller and makes a friend. Told from Rose's point of view, the story begins to reveal personality traits that emerge from Wilder's and Lane's real-life diaries--the quiet Almanzo, a hardworking farmer who would do almost anything to please his wife and daughter; the industrious Laura, a woman whose hard-line devotion to the bottom line sometimes interfered with family harmony; and their talented (if somewhat spoiled) Rose, an only child who was not above bending the rules if it suited her purposes. Although based on real events, MacBride's work is fiction (in one curious discrepancy, Rose wonders about her baby brother, who died as an infant; most Wilder/Lane scholars feel that Rose was unaware of her parents' loss even when she later suffered a miscarriage). While this story is somewhat less focused than the earlier one, MacBride adds some fascinating new chapters to a saga that will appeal to Little House fans. Kay Weisman

From Kirkus Reviews
Rose Wilder Lane's sole heir draws on family papers, Lane's published works, stories she told, and historical research to extend her mother's fictionalized family history into the next generation. Rose was ten in 1894 when Laura and Almanzo left their failed South Dakota farm for Missouri. MacBride recounts their journey, with four horses but few other possessions, and their purchase of a farm with forested land almost too rocky to plow and saplings yet to be planted for an orchard. By winter, they encounter strange new animals, cope with financial hurdles, and discover friendly neighbors; the book concludes with a barn- raising. MacBride emulates Wilder's style with some success, dwelling on similar concerns (the comfortable balance between a child's good behavior and a lively independence of mind) and details (especially of the land itself, and of making a cozy home with very little), choosing incidents of intrinsic interest as well as period authenticity. His characterizations aren't as rich as Laura's; there's no docile sister as a foil for Rose, as Mary was for Laura. Interestingly, Laura herself is best realized here, courageous but not indefatigable, with more doubts than Ma ever revealed. The author's careful prose doesn't match Wilder's elegant, artless-seeming simplicity; omitting some of the less telling details and phrases would have tightened the long text. Still, a fine continuation of the beloved chronicle, in similar attractive format (including quietly evocative soft-pencil illustrations of places and things). First printing of 100,000. (Fiction. 7-12) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Little House on Rocky Ridge
In my opinion the book Little House on Rocky Ridge by Roger Lea MacBride is a great book.Based on the life of Rose Wilder and her family this book is as good as the ones abouther mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder. Rose and her parents are moving from South Dakota to find a better life. They had to move becausethe drought wouldn't let anithing grow. So in a covered wagon they headed to to Kansas in hope of a better life.On the way to Kansas Rose has fun looking at all the new things she hadn't seen before. During the trip Rose's mother shows her the money that will help buy the new farm, it's one hundred dollars.Rose promises that she won't tell anyone about it. But at the end of the trip when they are ready to buy the farm the money can not be found. The whole family gets very woried and dosn't know what to do.Rose and her family learn to be strong on hard times and go on with life.

A spunky girl named Rose Wilder
Rose Wilder and her parents, the now-legendary Laura Ingals and Almanzo Wilder are going to Missouri. The journey is very harsh. The American west is almost literally burning up, and dust storms are a constant threat. Rose remains constant friends with her fellow travellers, Paul and George Cooley, and their parents. They are travelling together. The ROSE books have the same warmth and feel as the original Little House books and are an amazing period piece. These are more historical FICTION than the originals because there were fewer sources and weren't written by Rose herself. However, they are a true picture of pre-1900 and the dawn of that century. Some people may find a slightly less pleasing charater in Rose because she is more impatient, frustrated with being poor, and more romantic-minded than the simple, dear Laura. But many girls will associate with Rose, and this is a wonderful series.

Little House On Rocky Ridge
If you like history books then this is a good book for you. The book that I read is Little House On Rocky Ridge. If you read all the other Laura Ingalls series then you'll know what I'm talking about.You see Laura Ingalls is older with a husband and a daughter who is curius, and her name is Rose. So the 3 of them and their friends moved to Wisconsin but there is a problem not a big one but a minor one. They had a 100 dollar bill from when Laura's working at the sewing place but they lost it. Will they ever find the 100 dollar bill? But there's more problems! Read the book and you will find out all the problems. This is a real good history book you will love so read this good history book!