By the Shores of Silver Lake was probably my favourite of the series so far, excepting Farmer Boy. The book opens with Laura's sister Mary having lost her sight due to scarlet fever, and within a few chapters the family's faithful dog, Jack, has died. This is definitely a book where Laura grows up! The Wilder boys also make their first (very brief) appearance, and I felt like I could see the threads of Laura's life coming together!
The railroad also features heavily in this book, and Pa goes to work on it for a while which means there's a very different aspect coming into play in this book - whereas the rest have been very self-sufficient, this is only the second occurrence of Pa being paid by someone else rather than being self-reliant. I really liked the diversity of experiences in this book, and it was nice that Laura and her family got to spend some time with Uncles, Aunts and cousins. I also liked that while Laura had lost none of her curiosity about the world, she was quite obviously growing up and getting more responsibility in the family. She helps Ma a lot more in this book than previously, and takes much more responsibility for her younger sisters, Carrie and new baby Grace. She's also responsible for telling Mary about all the things that she can't see, and I liked the affection she shows towards Mary.
I'm going to go through and read everyone's posts today or tomorrow. We've been away so I'm catching up!
June's book (halfway!) is The Long Winter, which was published in 1940 and is set during the winter that Laura turned 14. It was a runner up for the Newberry medal in 1941! We're getting really far through now! How's the read-along going for you?
Check out the previous months posts and what's coming up here or at Lynn's blog!
Link up your posts about The Long Winter here!
I hope you enjoyed your time away! Glad you've returned safely and soundly! The railroad was really interesting. And I did appreciate Laura's obvious affection for and patience with Mary! I can't believe this year is darn near half gone already!
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