Why did Laura Ingalls Wilder write the Little House books?

There are a few reasons why Laura Ingalls Wilder is believed to have written the Little House books. First of all, the books weren’t originally designed as a series. Laura wrote her memoir first in the original Pioneer Girl manuscript, something that is now available to Little House fans to read.

When the Wilders moved to Missouri, they found some success as farmers on Rocky Ridge.  Laura began writing a column for the Missouri Ruralist, and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane was already a published author when Laura began to write her memoir.

Laura also suffered the loss of both her mother Caroline and her sister in the 1920s as well, which seemed to revive Wilder’s historical remembrances of her time as a little girl.  Rose also encouraging her mother to branch out from just the articles she was writing for Missouri Ruralist and other publications to more historical based content.

The Wilders had also suffered a severe financial loss.  The Wilders had invested in the stock market with Rose’s broker, and lost their savings with the 1929 stock market crash, as did their daughter. 

All of these factors seem to have impacted Laura’s decision to begin writing her memoirs, including the need for additional income.

1929-1930 is when Laura first began writing Pioneer Girl, which was a much-condensed version of the Little House books, but which also contained content that was for adults only.  In 1930, she asked her daughter to look at her manuscript about her life as a pioneer for feedback. After consultation with Rose’s own publisher, it was expanded and reworked for children to what readers now know as The Little House books, and with the Little House in the Big Woods book that was published in 1932.