Farmer Boy is a children's historical novel by Laura Ingalls Wilder. First published in 1933, it is the second book in the nine part Little House series, also known as "The Laura Years". Although it was the second book written, Farmer Boy is usually read third in the series, following Little House on the Prairie.
Farmer Boy is based on the childhood of Laura's husband, Almanzo Wilder, who grew up in the 1860s near the town of Malone in upstate New York. The book covers one year in Almanzo's life, beginning just before his ninth birthday, and describes in detail the endless chores involved in running the Wilder family farm. Young as he is, Almanzo rises before 5 a.m. every day to milk several cows and feed stock. In the growing season, he plants and tends crops; in winter, he hauls logs, helps fill the ice house, trains a team of young oxen, and sometimes—when his father can spare him—goes to school. The novel includes stories of Almanzo's brother Royal and his sisters Eliza Jane and Alice.
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[edit] Historical background
Since Almanzo was born in February 1857, the novel is set in years 1866–1867, which is before the birth of the author, Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957). In the book, Almanzo had an elder brother Royal (1847–1925) and sisters Eliza Jane (1850–1930) and Alice (1853–1892). Meanwhile, he also had a sister Laura (1844–1899), who at the time and events in the novel was already about 22 and had presumably moved out. She was left out of the book for the obvious reason that two Lauras in the same book series would confuse some readers. He later had a brother Perley Day (1869–1934), who was not yet born.[1]
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