Little House in the Highlands

All these books are great

We enjoy reading aloud on winter evenings as a family, and this has been one of our favorites among our 4 older children ages 4-9, as well as my husband and myself. The time period, Scottish setting, and believable, relatable escapades of wee Martha captured and held the attention of all the children, and was both fascinating and enjoyable even for us adults. Can't recommend highly enough. We've loved all the other Little House heroines, but Martha and Caroline are our family's favorites!

If you enjoy any of the Little House "prequels" get them quick in their original editions. HarperCollins will be rereleasing them in abridged editions only, cutting up to 100 pages in each novel, starting Summer 2007.

Little House in the Highlands tells about six-year-old Martha Morse, who would grow up to be Laura Ingalls Wilder's great-grandmother, while she's living in Scotland in 1788. Martha wants to be good and ladylike like her sister Grisie, but it's impossible for her to sit still during a spinning lesson when her brothers are outside playing on the rolling hills. And it's very hard for her to hold her tounge. Will Martha ever stop getting into trouble? Find out in this great book!

This book is totally great. Martha Morse, the main character in this book has many memorable advantures, from a dirty dust-gown to a washing near the lake with Mollie and Nannie, two of the servants. The book is intersting and really fun to read. Martha longs to play on the hills of Scotland insted of doing her dreaded sewing lessons. The book is not only fun to read, but intersting, and it leaves you wondering what will happen next to this little lass and her family. (And her adventures.) Little House in the Highlands is wonderful. The book is very excellent to read, and I think that any one who reads Little House in the Highlands will agree with me one hundred percent.

Six-year-old Martha is a spunky wee lass who will charm old and young alike. Ms. Wiley has knowingly portrayed the frustration of a young child who not only can't yet behave like her proper older sister, but can't even seem to want to. Children can relate to her for this spark of mischief--for after all, children seem to identify with a naughty hero/ine sooner than they do with a nice one. Ms. Wiley's knowledge of eighteenth-century Scotland is equally impressive, but best of all is her command of diction. I read the book aloud to my five-year-old daughter and the sentences rolled effortlessly off my tongue in ready-made brogue. The dialect is set clearly in context and, with only minor clarifications here and there, is easy to follow, even for one so young. Now add to the formula little Martha's first-hand experiences of the day-to-day grind of the estate and the book becomes educational on many levels. The author has a knack for including both details and storylines that will engage a young child's imagination. So in the final analysis, the book is engrossing, educational, even escapist. It's not often a book can do this for both a five-year-old and her mother!

This is a very good story of a little girl named Martha, who grew up in Scotland in 1788. It is about Martha and her family, and the people around her. Some of the Scottish terms and accents are hard to understand. I highly recommend this book for students in grades 3 through 6.