Cynthia Rylant Trivia

1. One wintry day when Laura, Mary, and Carrie return home from school, Pa tells them that Ma has a surprise. What is it?

From Quiz Laura's Lost "Little House" Years

Answer: A baby brother

The girls are worried when they find, not Ma, but a neighbor named Mrs. Nelson in the kitchen of their rented house in Walnut Grove, but Mrs. Nelson's cheerful greeting and Pa's hints of a surprise reassure them. Carrie guesses that the surprise is new dolls, but Laura and Mary know what it must be. Pa and Ma proudly show them their newborn baby brother, Charles Frederick (Freddie).

From Quiz Laura's Lost "Little House" Years

Answer: Ma

While Ma is so very sick, the girls worry and fill their days with hard work--they have to do Ma's chores, including the washing, and some of Pa's. One day Pa, not thinking of how high the creek is after the rain, sends Laura across it to ask Mr. Nelson to send for the doctor. She makes it across far enough to ask, and Mr. Nelson brings the doctor, who has come on the train from Redwood Falls. Ma's sickness is from her liver, but after many visits, Dr. Goodwin assures her family that she will live.

From Quiz Laura's Lost "Little House" Years

Answer: Burr Oak

Pa cannot support his family and pay for the "wonderful house" on the prairie that Laura loves so much without a wheat crop, so he is forced to sell their farm on Plum Creek. Laura is sad to leave, but wishes that they could go further west where she will still feel free under the open sky. Instead, the Ingalls family heads east, where Pa and Ma will take a job running a hotel in Burr Oak, Iowa.

From Quiz Laura's Lost "Little House" Years

Answer: He dies

Little Freddie is often sick during the summer spent on Uncle Peter and Aunt Eliza's farm before going to Burr Oak. One day the doctor comes to see him, and when he leaves without a good word or reassuring look for the girls, Laura knows the news is not good. Freddie dies, and his little white grave is marked with the words: "Too sweet a bud to bloom on earth."

From Quiz Laura's Lost "Little House" Years

Answer: Sock doll

Johnny Steadam introduces himself as a "holy terror"--even Jack dislikes him, and the girls soon see how right he is! Since Johnny has a handicapped leg, though, Ma insists that they always be nice to him. Ruben Steadam likes to steal. When he takes Carrie's sock doll Bessie, a gift from her cousins, Laura sneaks into the Steadams' room and gets it back.

From Quiz Laura's Lost "Little House" Years

Answer: Mr. Reid

Burr Oak is old and already settled, unlike the pioneer town of Walnut Grove. At the busy Burr Oak House, Jack has to live in the barn, and the Ingalls live in one room. It is too small to even put up the bracket and china shepherdess that would make it feel like home. Everyone has to work hard, seven days a week, but the girls love learning at Mr. Reid's school. Mr. Reid is a boarder at their hotel. Laura is thrilled when he starts the school day with a chapter from "Oliver Twist," and finds his reading captivating.

From Quiz Laura's Lost "Little House" Years

Answer: He gets the measles

Laura and her sisters come down with the measles first. Even when they're sick, Johnny Steadam comes and bothers them, jerking Laura's pillow from beneath her head and pinching Mary. They all hope Johnny comes down with a double case of the measles for Christmas. When Ma tells them that he has indeed come down with a terrible case of it, the girls look serious. But as soon as Ma is gone, they all have a good laugh and consider it a Christmas present!

From Quiz Laura's Lost "Little House" Years

Answer: His bucket has no bottom

Pa has moved his family out of the hotel and into the much quieter rooms above Kimball's Grocery. He works at a feed mill, so Ma can stay home. The fire starts at the Burr Oak House's saloon. Although most would be glad to see it go, they must stop the fire to save the rest of town. After the fire is out, Pa tells Ma and the girls why Mr. Bisbee, a wealthy man who lives at the hotel, stood at the pump so long. His bucket had no bottom, and in the chaos he just kept pumping and didn't notice!

From Quiz Laura's Lost "Little House" Years

Answer: She wants to adopt Laura

The Ingalls now live just out of town, in a little brick house rented from Mr. Bisbee. Pa and Ma have four girls to take care of: Mary, Laura, Carrie, and a new addition to the family, baby Grace. Laura is surprised to see Mrs. Starr visiting, and becomes afraid when she asks to adopt her. Mrs. Starr is lonely because her own daughters have grown up and left home, and thinks that taking Laura would help the Ingalls family. Ma says that she and Pa "couldn't possibly spare Laura."

From Quiz Laura's Lost "Little House" Years

Answer: Cemetery

Alice is a friend of Laura's from school. They sometimes go to the rock quarry or the swimming hole, but Ma doesn't like them going alone. So, Alice takes Laura to the Burr Oak Cemetery. Laura has never seen a cemetery before, and finds it peaceful and beautiful. Early one morning, Ma wakes up the girls and tells them that Pa has packed the wagon. The family is finally going west again. Laura feels sad to leave Burr Oak, her friend Alice, and the schoolmaster, Mr. Reid, but looks forward to a new beginning out west.

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