Little Town on the Prairie is an autobiographical children's novel written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published in 1941, the seventh of nine books in her Little House series.

At the end of the novel, she receives a teacher's certificate and is employed to teach at the Brewster settlement, 12 miles (19 km) away.

Meanwhile, Ma begins planting her new vegetable garden, while Mary, Laura, and Carrie happily help with the farm chores and housework and care for their youngest sister, Grace.

After gophers begin eating Pa's seed corn and a mouse cuts his hair in his sleep, the family decides to get a cat, which quickly proves to be a skilled hunter despite being taken from its mother at only five weeks old.

She hates the work but continues because the money will help send her sister, Mary, to a college for the blind in Iowa.

In order to stave off the loneliness stemming from Mary's departure, they do the fall cleaning; they succeed despite a few mishaps, surprising Ma and Pa when they return.

In the fall, the Ingalls move to town; they believe the coming winter will not be as hard as the previous one, but as the claim shanty is not weatherproofed, Pa thinks it is best not to risk staying in it.

The teacher for the fall term is Eliza Jane Wilder, Almanzo's older sister, who has a nearby claim of her own.

Laura sets herself to studying, as she only has one year left before she can apply for a teaching certificate, but relaxes when the town of De Smet begins having literary meetings at the school, where the whole town gathers for fun every Friday night: singing, elocution, a spelling bee, or plays and minstrel shows put on by the townspeople.

Laura and her classmates become friendly after a birthday party for Ben Woodworth, and so she begins lagging in her studies, though she remains head of the class.

Almanzo once again sees Laura home, and offers to take her on a sleigh ride after he completes the cutter he is building.

Though Wilder began writing the books as autobiographical recollections, they are considered historical fiction and have won a number of literary awards.

In spring 1880, Charles filed a homestead claim south of De Smet for the NE quarter of Section 3, Township 110, Range 56.

Virginia Kirkus had handled Wilder's debut novel Little House in the Big Woods for Harper and Brothers as its book editor from 1926 to 1932.

Of this novel she advised, "These books are written in the third person, as if they were fiction, but actually each successive volume provides another panel in Wilder's autobiography.