By The Shores of Silver Lake

By the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, was first published in 1939 and is the fifth of nine books written in her Little House on the Prairie series, also known as The Laura Years. The book takes place over a period of just over one year, beginning when Laura is twelve years old and the family moves to what will become De Smet, South Dakota, from Plum Creek, Minnesota. After moving to the Dakota Territory, the family first lives with relatives in a railroad camp, where Pa works as the bookkeeper. The railroad company asks the family to spend the winter in the surveyors' house to watch the equipment, and in the spring Pa files on a nearby claim. Until he can build a shelter there, the family lives in town in a store building Pa built of leftover railroad lumber. As soon as the claim shanty is in place, the family moves into it, although they will return to town during the coming winters until the claim shanty is fully weatherized some five years in the future.

Though Wilder began writing the books as autobiographical recollections, they are considered historical fiction and have won a number of literary awards. By the Shores of Silver Lake was awarded a Newbery Honor award in 1940 for exceptional children’s literature. The enduring popularity of the Little House books has inspired additional book series encompassing more generations of Wilder’s family as well as a long-running television series in the early 1970s that is still in syndication and available on DVD.