“Laura was washing the dishes one morning when old Jack, lying in the sunshine on the doorstep, growled to tell her that someone was coming.”

From Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House: By the Shores of Silver Lake.

While life has never been easy for the Ingalls family, tragedy has recently struck hard when scarlet fever leaves Mary blind, forcing the entire family to figure out a way to cope with many challenges her loss of vision brings. Pa asks Laura to step up and help Mary by acting as her eyes, which helps the sisters to draw closer and helps Laura mature. When Laura’s visiting aunt suggests a new, temporary job for Pa in Dakota Territory, he goes ahead to set everything up, and a short time later, Ma, Mary, Laura, Carrie, and little Baby Grace board a train and travel out to join Pa. While Pa works at a railroad camp for Laura’s uncle which allows her to be able to get to spend time with her cousin, Lena, but as the camp shuts down for the winter, the Ingalls soon find themselves staying over the winter to care for some equipment until the surveyors return. A visit from the Reverend Aldren leads to the family learning about a school for the blind in Iowa, but the visit also creates a desire in Laura to become a teacher and help cover the cost for Mary’s special education. When Pa finds an idilic piece of land nearby available for a new homestead, the family begins preparing to purchase the land and settle down in the Dakota Territory permanently.

Following the lives of one of literature’s most iconic families, the fifth book in the Little House series once again tells the highs and lows of the Ingalls family. The illustrations scattered throughout the book help solidify the story’s happenings, while Wilder’s genuine and engaging characters easily drive the story. By the Shores of Silver Lake is a solid addition to the series and will keep readers invested and engaged to the very end.