Little House Books on Audible Now, Perhaps for Laura’s Birthday?

Hey I just caught word that the Little House books on CD are now available on audible.com. This is so cool! Can I even express how happy this news makes me! These are the narrations by Cherry Jones. Cherry has an amazing talent to make these scenes come alive! Delightful fiddle music by Paul Woodiel sparkles between each chapter’s narration. We listened to these CDs years ago with my older kids and I’ve introduced them to my younger set after we moved to Arizona. Every set we have ever listened to we checked out from the public library. I have soooo many happy memories of listening to these! Like all the times we were in the car, my five older kids and I, driving back and forth from Provo to Layton twice a week when we first moved to Davis County Utah in November 2004. My big kids still had creative dance classes at BYU, for the rest of the school year. That’s a three hour round trip, with a nursing infant. 🙂 These stories on CD made those trips so bearable and actually fun!

Then there was the time we drove home from an extended Shumway clan Christmas party in a snowstorm at 11 PM listening to one of the volumes. The family warmth just oozed out of the car on that icy night. Our most recent foray into a Little House audio volume was on our last trip to Utah from Arizona when we took our son to the MTC to launch him on his mission this past November. We listened to Farmer Boy, and I will forever remember my missionary son’s comment, “This book always makes me so hungry!” He had read the book for his LEMI scholar project class of Georgics. It’s true, Farmer Boy has the most lengthy, tantalizing descriptions of food, out of all the volumes. Almanzo sure could pack it away! I will forever remember the bright crisp, colorful autumn day as we drove through the beautiful northern Arizona and southern Utah countryside listening to Almanzo’s account of the county fair and his bounteous milk-fed pumpkin. I’m so glad that this book was one of the last that we got to share together before we said goodbye. (We also listened to the Book of Mormon and a book about John and Abigail Adams and loved all of them.)

Now you can have the whole set of the best books for children all in the palm of your hand on your phone! This is so handy for road trips or even when at home. No having to store all the boxes of CDs and remember to transfer discs from the home to the car to the home. This is such amazing news!!! Yay!!! No keeping track of 9 times however many CDs in each box, 7 or 8, if I recall.

I wonder if this launch is being done in conjunction with Laura’s 150 birthday? Yep, she was born 150 years ago today on Feb. 7, 2017. What would she think about life today? Here is a funny write-up of what she would say on social media if she had her own Facebook or Twitter accounts. It’s laugh-out-loud funny!

Happy Birthday Laura! May you continue to inspire us with your simplicity and love of home! May little kids forever more be thankful for a simple rag doll and maple candy for Christmas like Laura or a sled like Almanzo for his birthday. May we all be motivated to work hard like Laura and her Farmer Boy!

Here are some quotes from Laura’s books that I love:

“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”

“The real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.”

“Laura felt a warmth inside her. It was very small, but it was strong. It was steady, like a tiny light in the dark, and it burned very low but no winds could make it flicker because it would not give up.”

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime.”

“Home is the nicest word there is.”

“There’s no great loss without some small gain.”

“As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness — just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.”

“There is no comfort anywhere for anyone who dreads to go home.”

“Remember well, and bear in mind, a constant friend is hard to find.”

“As you read my stories of long ago I hope you will remember that things truly worthwhile and that will give you happiness are the same now as they were then. It is not the things you have that make you happy. It is love and kindness and helping each other and just plain being good. ”

“When the fiddle had stopped singing Laura called out softly, “What are days of auld lang syne, Pa?”
“They are the days of a long time ago, Laura,” Pa said. “Go to sleep, now.”
But Laura lay awake a little while, listening to Pa’s fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods,…
She was glad that the cozy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.”

“A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing.”

“The true way to live is to enjoy every moment as it passes, and surely it is in the everyday things around us that the beauty of life lies.”

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