By the Shores of Silver Lake Reviews
By
the Shores of Silver Lake Number 5 in the Little House Series.
I read all of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books when I was a youngster.
I loved to read and spent hours by myself just devouring these
books. I had the ability to put myself in the books when I was
reading and make friends with the characters. When I was reading I
was part of the story too. I hated to come to the end of the story
because that meant I was no longer a part of it. I always felt sad
on the last page. The first time I would read a book was the best of
course because I was ready to be a part of every single adventure. I
always read a book at least twice. In my younger years The Little
House books were books I read and re read and then read again and
again. Over the years I have been able to answer trivia questions in
trivia games and in different classes and places because I have read
so much and been able to keep what I read in my head. I feel blessed
by my reading ability and passion.
The Shores of Silver Lake interrupted my reading ability and my love
of reading. I remember the first time I read it, I was ready to read
about Laura age 10 leaving the Banks of Plum Creek to move onto her
next adventure. Instead the Little House books skipped a few years.
I felt like I had missed some major parts of the Little House story.
I remember going to the library and searching the shelves
frantically for a book that came between Plum Creek and Silver Lake.
I never found one. I remember feeling cheated by this story when I
was a young girl. Now, as an adult I know that if you read Laura’s
biographies you will find information about this missing time. I am
assuming these times were more than she could write about. The
struggles these people faced were nearly impossible for any of us to
imagine, let alone live through.
As we enter the story of The Shores of Silver Lake the family is
suddenly older. There is a new baby named Grace in the family and
beautiful sister Mary is blind. All we hear about this is that the
family had Scarlet Fever and Mary is left blind from it. The story
of the family being sick, the loss of crops and the apparent air of
sadness at the time is not really described and it is like a whole
book was left out. Laura is nearly 13 now. Jack the brindle bull dog
dies in the first chapter. The family leaves Plum Creek when Aunt
Docia (a character last seen in Little House in the Big Woods) comes
with word of a job for Pa. They leave by train and meet Pa in Tracy
where Pa will take up a job on the railroad. He is searching for a
homestead. He has a job working for the railroad and he will earn
50.00 a month. He sells the little house on Plum Creek for 200.00.
(The Plum Creek House was the house and story that was used in the
television series as the Little House on the Prairie)
Once I got used to the idea that a book was not missing from the
series. I managed to settle into this story and read it and learn to
love it as much if not more than the other stories in the series.
This story is so fun yet the hardships that this family endured is
almost impossible to imagine.
This story is filled with adventure when Laura rides a horse and
drives a cart for the first time with her cousin. She sleeps in a
tent and enjoys being a young girl with her cousins, but then as the
story continues she is faced with a lot of hard work. Laura is a
strong and fidgety girl. She hates being idle and is constantly
doing something. She is also the eyes for Mary. She leads Mary
everywhere and helps her with all that she needs. She takes care of
her little sisters and helps Ma. They stay in a rented home in part
of this story, to take care of this for the railroad surveyor. Laura
and Ma work like crazy as cooks and waitresses caring for the
railroad men. To be a thirteen year old girl who works like this is
nearly unheard of today! Yet, Laura writes about a girl in the story
who at the age of 13 is married! We learn about thieves on the
Prairie and about men who stand up for each other to ensure that no
one steals from them. The Ingalls family, with all of their
hardships seems to have a guardian angel or two guiding them as they
travel along their route to their new home.
Christmas Eve brings the family’s new friends, The Boasts. They come
in from the storm and celebrate Christmas with the family in the
Surveyor’s house. The Boasts are talked about friends of the Ingalls
family in every book after this writing. Little Grace is given a
beautiful gift of a coat and hat handmade by Ma.
Pa begins work on the first building that will begin the new town in
Dakota Territory on Silver Lake. He finds a homestead and begins to
build his family yet another Little House. He builds a little Shanty
for them to live in during the summer and in the winter time they
will live in Pa’s store that he built in town.
The illustrations that Garth Williams has done in black and white
are simply wonderful. I know you can purchase the newer editions of
these stories and find color versions of the illustrations but for
me, the black and white illustrations are the way I remember these
books best and enjoy them.
By the Shores of Silver Lake was named a Newbury Honor book in 1940.
Laura Ingalls Wilder was in her 60s when she wrote this story about
her life that happened in 1879. It has 32 chapters written in 291
pages.
I highly recommend this story and hope you will enjoy reading it.
Adults and children alike will find information about the westward
expansion that is eye opening and interesting. Laura Ingalls
Wilder’s story is written about her family, but many American
families have ancestors who struggled like this family
By: pantazis5 of epinions.com
Matthew, A reviewer,
10/16/2002
In the Shores of Silver Lake Laura sees a lot of railroad men. She learns
how the men level the land so railroad tracks can be laid down. In the
middle of this book people come and settle the land. Since people had no
homes built yet they stayed in Laura's house and then moved on to going
further west or settling around that area. I recommend this book to people
who want to learn about the wild west.
Bryon, A reviewer,
04/01/2000
VERY GOOD!!! Very Good book!!! Talks about Pa working on the railroad and
Mary being Blind.
