Maria Wilkes Books In Order

Publication Order of Little House: The Caroline Years Books

Maria Wilkes is a renowned American writer of young adult, historical fiction, and children’s books. She is famous for contributing to the Little House Books, originally created by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In all, Maria has written four books in the Little House: Caroline Years series and five chapter books of the same series. In her novels, she has described the life of Caroline Ingalls, the mother of Laura Ingalls. Starting from the time she was little Caroline Quiner, Maria has described the events in her life as she grew up, her marriage, her professional life, and the subsequent years as well. Maria collaborated with Dan Andreasen and Doris Ettlinger for writing her books, who provided excellent illustrations in her novels. Author Maria says that she was very small when she discovered the Little House novels and became fascinated by the work of Laura Wilder. They inspired her to develop an interest in pioneer history.

Before attempting to write her first book, Maria carried out extensive research on the Ingalls, Wilder, and Quiner families. She even studied family letters, diaries, and original sources. Maria also worked closely with a few historians and the estate of Laura Wilder to come up with the manuscripts of Caroline Years novels. Maria is happily married to her husband named Peter and currently lives with him and her two daughters named Natalie and Grace in New Jersey. She is pretty much satisfied with the amount of popularity and success that she has received in her writing career and hopes to achieve more success in the years to come.

Maria likes to extend her gratitude to all the critics, reviewers, and fellow writers who have praised her works and given rave reviews of her novels on various literary platforms. She also likes to interact with the readers through social media platforms and give out updates to them regarding the latest happenings in her career. Maria loves to organize book signing events, workshops, and meet-ups to solve the queries and answer the questions of her fans regarding her books, characters, and similar other things. Maria is hopeful of writing several more interesting books in the upcoming years and establishing herself in the ranks of the prominent authors of the young adult fiction genre.

The Little House: The Caroline Years series is comprised of a total of 7 novels and five chapter books released between 1996 and 2005, of which 9 books have been penned by author Maria Wilkes. All the books mainly revolve around the life of Caroline Ingalls (nee Quiner). Some of the essential characters mentioned in the books by Maria include Charles Ingalls, Charlotte Tucker Quiner, Caroline Quiner, and several others. The settings take place in Sullivan, Milwaukee, and Brookfield towns of Wisconsin, United States. Maria’s debut book in this series is entitled ‘Little House in Brookfield’. It was released in 1996 by the Harpercoll publication. This book launches the series describing the adventures of the little girl Caroline Quiner, who goes on to become the Laura Wilder’s mother. It is set in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Maria has written this story in the Rocky Ridge and Little novels’ classic tradition.

The plot is developed based on the historical papers, diaries, and letters, and offers a glimpse into the adventurous past of America seen through the point of view of a girl belonging to one of the beloved frontier families of the country. Maria has tried to take the readers back to the time of the 1840s in Brookfield, describing the bustling pioneer town. Caroline Quiner is introduced as a five-year-old girl living with her five siblings, her grandmother, and her mother in a comfortable house. One ago, her father went missing at sea. Since then, Caroline and her family members have been trying to look after themselves and adjust lives accordingly. At such a tender age, Caroline shows signs of maturity and tries to step up to the task of carrying her family through this testing time.

This book shows the hardships faced by a family when their sole bread earner is no more. Maria has depicted how Caroline and her siblings step up to help their mother in catering to their needs after the disappearance of their father. Their grandmother looks after them while their mother is busy earning money by making candles, sewing, selling ashes, and doing other odd jobs. Overall, its a great book filled with great characters and an interesting story. It achieved tremendous success in all the places of its publication. The success motivated author Maria to write several more books based on the life of Caroline Quiner.

Another wonderful novel of this series is called ‘Little Clearing in the Woods’. It was published by HarperTrophy publication in 1998. The book is set in Sullivan, Wisconsin, and features Charlotte Tucker Quiner and Caroline Quiner as the main characters. Initially, it is mentioned that Caroline Quiner’s family decides to move out of their hometown of Brookfield. They are on their way to move into a new house located in the middle of big trees in Concord. During their journey from Brookfield to Concord through the forest, Caroline shows signs of excitement and fear at the same time. Her mother, Charlotte Quiner, wonders if she will like the new house as much as she liked her old home in Brookfield. After the owner of their old house asks them to leave, Caroline’s mother buys a small house located in a scarcely populated town with the little money she had saved for future use.

Caroline’s brothers and a helpful neighbor help to fix the new house and the adjoining land. They begin to grow crops for food. When a heavy storm destroys all the crops, the Quiners come together again and taking up individual jobs in the town. They are faced with hardships again and successfully overcome again by sticking together and not losing hope. This novel provides emotional lessons about a family going through struggles and hardships. Maria writing is engaging and filled with amazing characters. The critics have praised her work by saying that she has done an excellent job of bringing Caroline Quiner’s household and her family to life.