Laura Ingalls Wilder Trivia

Laura Ingalls Wilder was born in which state?

• Wisconsin

• Minnesota

• Illinois

• Ohio

How many siblings in total did Laura have?

Answer explanation

Most people know that Laura had three sisters - Mary, Carrie, and Grace. However, she also had a baby brother, Charles, who died at only nine months old.

Chronologically, which book comes first in Laura's life?

• Little House in the Big Woods

• Little House on the Prairie

• The First Four Years

• On the Banks of Plum Creek

Answer explanation

Laura was only 3 when her family moved to the prairie, but in the book she made herself a little older. As a result, Little House in the Big Woods seems to be first chronologically. Knowing Laura's true age may explain some of the passages that have caused modern readers to take umbrage.

Laura's book Farmer Boy describes whose childhood?

• Her father, Charles

• Her husband, Almonzo

• Her son, John

• Her grandfather, Lansford

To which state did the Ingalls family move in Little House on the Prairie?

• Oklahoma

• Nebraska

• Missouri

• Kansas

Why did Laura's family leave their homestead in Little House on the Prairie?

• They lost their crops and livestock during a drought.

• They had settled on land that was Indian territory.

• They heard about better farmland somewhere else.

• Their home was destroyed by a tornado.

Answer explanation

In 1869, Charles Ingalls built his homestead on land that was part of an Osage Reservation, which was not open for white settlers. He may have made an honest mistake, but the laws at the time were unclear; and, technically, he was not required to leave. However, he voluntarily moved his family out of the territory in 1871.

What was the name of the town in On the Banks of Plum Creek? Hint: it is the same town that is featured in the Little House television series.

• Walnut Grove

• Oak Point

• Lone Pine

• Maple Hill

True or False: Nellie Oleson, Laura's nemesis on the television program, was a real person who appears in the books.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Although the name was fictitious, Nellie Oleson was a composite of three different girls whom Laura knew in her childhood. So, technically Nellie was three real people.

Which of the Ingalls girls eventually went blind because of a disease?

• Mary

• Laura

• Carrie

• Grace

Which book records Laura's courtship with and marriage to Almanzo Wilder?

• By the Shores of Silver Lake

• Little Town on the Prairie

• The Long Winter

• These Happy Golden Years