"[1] Burton denied it was a critique of urban sprawl, but instead wished to convey the passage of time to younger readers.

When the great-great-granddaughter discovers that it is the same house, she arranges to have her moved out of the city, to a hill in the country where she can once again watch the seasons pass and live happily ever after.

[1] The apartments and skyscrapers from the Disney adaptation of The Little House make a cameo appearance in "Toontown" in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

[4] The story centers on a house built at the top of a small hill, far out in the country, who is delighted when a newlywed couple choose her for a home.

The cartoon then switches to the late 19th century as a parade of people voting for William McKinley in the presidential election goes by, and the Little House is shown to have had two tall tenement buildings built on either side of her.

Sadly, her family moves away to escape all the noise that the residents in both buildings make, but the house reminds herself that come what may, she must stand her ground.

By this time, the Little House has become battered and worn with age and has begun to long for her old life on the small hill in the countryside.

As CityLab's Carl Abbott noted in 2017: "Burton lovingly depicted the country setting as islands of meadow and trees that seem to float off the page.

Pounding traffic pollutes the air, trolleys clank, crowds hurry past, an elevated railway blocks light, and a subway rumbles directly beneath."