By the Shores of Silver Lake

By the Shores of Silver Lake is the fifth of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books, published in 1939. It is autobiographical fiction based on her childhood in the American Midwest.

The family has fared badly at Plum Creek in Minnesota. They are in debt, and Mary, Laura's older sister, has lost her sight after an illness. Pa travels west to work as a bookkeeper in a railroad camp in the Dakota Territory, where he can earn as much as fifty dollars a month, and then sends for his wife and four children. The story covers just over a year, beginning when Laura is twelve, and follows the family as they become the first settlers in what will become the town of De Smet. Because Mary cannot see, Pa asks Laura to be her sister's eyes by describing what is around them, and that request shapes how Laura behaves for the rest of the book. The coming of the railroad draws crowds of people looking for land, and the Ingalls have to file their claim before it is too late.

Wilder wrote the series for children, and this volume was named a Newbery Honor book in 1940, as were the fourth through eighth books.