Little Town at the Crossroads

Little Town at the Crossroads is a historical novel for young readers by the American writer Maria D. Wilkes, published in 1997. It is the second book in a series about Caroline Quiner, the girl who grows up to be the mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Caroline watches Brookfield, Wisconsin, change around her as buildings go up overnight and new families arrive to settle. There is more for her to do than ever before: she marches in her first Independence Day parade, a circus visits the town, and neighbours become friends she will miss. Caroline is at the age when a town begins to feel like a whole world.

Then the family is offered the chance to move to another farm, and Caroline has to imagine leaving the little town she has just learned to love. The series is about Caroline growing up rather than about the town, and a move would take her away from everything she has only begun to know. The decision belongs to her parents, while the feeling of it belongs entirely to her.