#149 in Children’s books
By the Shores of Silver Lake
- 290
- Pages
- about 5 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“By the Shores of Silver Lake” is a warm chapter of the “Little House” books, with a close view of settlers’ lives that some readers find fascinating. Laura is twelve when the family leaves Plum Creek in Minnesota for the place that will become De Smet, South Dakota, and the book covers just over a year. Some prefer it to the volume before; it stands alone, though some advise reading the series in order.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
By the Shores of Silver Lake is an autobiographical children's novel written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published in 1939, the fifth of nine books in her Little House series. It spans just over one year, beginning when she is 12 years old and her family moves from Plum Creek, Minnesota, just north of the small town of Walnut Grove, to what would become De Smet, South Dakota.
Reading order · Little House on the Prairie
Full order & progress →- Little House in the Big WoodsStart here
7.97.9 / 10 - Farmer Boy
7.97.9 / 10 - Little House on the Prairie
7.97.9 / 10 - On the Banks of Plum Creek
7.97.9 / 10 - By the Shores of Silver LakeThis book
7.77.7 / 10 - The Long Winter
7.97.9 / 10 - Little Town on the Prairie
7.87.8 / 10 - These Happy Golden Years
7.87.8 / 10 - The First Four Years
7.67.6 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.5 across 104 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 41% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Children’s books average of 7.9. That is how 7.7 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.8 | 24 | 23% |
| Hardcover | 7.4 | 80 | 77% |
Frequently asked
What age is By the Shores of Silver Lake for?
By the Shores of Silver Lake sits on the Children shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 5–10. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 290 pages — longer than 72% of the ranked books in Children’s books.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Children’s books — with scores between 7.7 and 7.8, closest to this book.
