Sarah, Plain and Tall [Paperback]

Patricia MacLachlan (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

"Did Mama sing every day?"
Caleb asks his sister Anna.
"Every-single-day," she answers.
"Papa sang, too."

Their mother died the day after Caleb was born. Their house on the prairie is quiet now, and Papa doesn't sing anymore. Then Papa puts an ad in the paper, asking for a wife, and he receives a letter from one Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton, of Maine. Papa, Anna, and Caleb write back. Caleb asks if she sings. Sarah decides to come for a month. She writes Papa: I will come by train. I will wear a yellow bonnet. I am plain and tall, and Tell them I sing. Anna and Caleb wait and wonder. Will Sarah be nice? Will she like them? Will she stay?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

MacLachlan, author of Unclaimed Treasures, has written an affecting tale for children. In the late 19th century a widowed midwestern farmer with two children--Anna and Caleb--advertises for a wife. When Sarah arrives she is homesick for Maine, especially for the ocean which she misses greatly. The children fear that she will not stay, and when she goes off to town alone, young Caleb--whose mother died during childbirth--is stricken with the fear that she has gone for good. But she returns with colored pencils to illustrate for them the beauty of Maine, and to explain that, though she misses her home, "the truth of it is I would miss you more." The tale gently explores themes of abandonment, loss and love. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-Glenn Close narrates Patricia MacLachlan's beautiful novels on this fine audio collection. Sarah, Plain and Tall tells the story of Sarah, who came from Maine to answer Jacob's advertisement for a wife and mother, all from the point of view of young Anna. The classic story continues in Skylark, as Anna and her brother, Caleb, must travel with their new mother, Sarah, to Maine when a terrible drought threatens their home. Caleb picks up the story several years later in Caleb's Story, telling of the return of his grandfather, who had abandoned the family when Caleb's father was a young boy. Close, who played the role of Sarah in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of the first book, creates distinct voices for each character without ever resorting to theatrics. Anna and Caleb's voices mature as listeners progress through the stories, and Close's carefully unobtrusive narration showcases MacLachlan's simple yet poetic words. An interview with Patricia MacLachlan at the end of the collection gives students more information about the author's life and writing process, and about the real-life inspiration for Sarah. A beautiful collusion of an excellent story with a perfect narrator, and a treat for all listeners.
Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Maryland School for the Deaf, Columbia
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (August 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064402053
• ISBN-13: 978-0064402057
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (190 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,299 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Family Life > Stepfamilies
  • #15 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Family Life > New Experiences
  • #17 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Social Issues > New Experiences

More About the Author

Patricia MacLachlan was born on the prairie, and to this day carries a small bag of prairie dirt with her wherever she goes to remind her of what she knew first. She is the author of many well-loved novels and picture books, including Sarah, Plain and Tall, winner of the Newbery Medal; its sequels, Skylark and Caleb's Story; and Three Names, illustrated by Mike Wimmer. She lives in western Massachusetts.

In Her Own Words..."One thing I've learned with age and parenting is that life comes in circles. Recently, I was having a bad time writing. I felt disconnected. I had moved to a new home and didn't feel grounded. The house, the land was unfamiliar to me. There was no garden yet. Why had I sold my old comfortable 1793 home? The one with the snakes in the basement, mice everywhere, no closets. I would miss the cold winter air that came in through the electrical sockets."

"I had to go this day to talk to a fourth-grade class, and I banged around the house, complaining. Hard to believe, since I am so mild mannered and pleasant, isn't it? What did I have to say to them? I thought what I always think when I enter a room of children. What do I know?"

"I plunged down the hillside and into town, where a group of fourth-grade children waited for me in the library, freshly scrubbed, expectant. Should I be surprised that what usually happens did so? We began to talk about place, our living landscapes. And I showed them my little bag of prairie dirt from where I was born. Quite simply, we never got off the subject of place. Should I have been so surprised that these young children were so concerned with place, or with the lack of it, their displacement? Five children were foster children, disconnected from their homes. One little boy's house had burned down, everything gone. 'Photographs, too,' he said sadly. Another told me that he was moving the next day to place he'd never been. I turned and saw the librarian, tears coming down her face."

"'You know,' I said. 'Maybe I should take this bag of prairie dirt and toss it into my new yard. I'll never live on the prairie again. I live here now. The two places could mix together that way!' 'No!' cried a boy from the back. 'Maybe the prairie dirt will blow away!' And then a little girl raised her hand. 'I think you should put that prairie dirt in a glass bowl in your window so that when you write you can see it all the time. So you can always see what you knew first.'"

"When I left the library, I went home to write. What You Know First owes much to the children of the Jackson Street School: the ones who love place and will never leave it, the ones who lost everything and have to begin again. I hope for them life comes in circles, too."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The History in Sarah, Plain and Tall, April 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Sarah, Plain and Tall (Hardcover)

As I began to read Patricia McLachlan's Sarah, Plain and Tall Iwas instantly thrust into a time machine that took me back to asimpler time and place. A time of farms and wagons pulled byhorses. A time where there were no such things as computers, the Internet or any of the other distractions that we have today. This is how the Witting family lives their lives. Jacob is the father, Anna the older sister and Caleb, the youngest child. Anna and Caleb's mother died the day after she had Caleb and their father hasn't been the same since. Jacob puts an ad in the paper to find a wife and gets a response from Sarah from Maine. This book is a history lesson in disguise. I realize that all historical fiction is has an underlying history lesson, but this book in and its characters are very convincing. The lessons that the reader will learn are valuable and well taught. Sarah Plain and Tall takes place in 1910 and anyone who reads this book will learn about how people lived their life during this time. The book has many pieces of historical information. For example, it talks about how Sarah was wore very plain clothes, made by herself. It talked about how they had to use a plow pulled by a donkey to turn the fields. In one scene, a devastating storm blows through, and the Wittings must go into the barn to keep safe, but they also have to keep the animals safe. This depicts what a large role farm animals played in the livelihood of families during the early 1900's. The book also talks of how the children had to do real chores around the farm to keep it running smoothly. For example, they have to get up and help milk the cows, feed the animals and sometimes house maintenance. All of these are accurate depictions of life on a farm. Jan Susina's article, "American Girls Collection: Barbies with a Sense of History", argues that this series of books uses a nine-year-old girl to teach other girls about American history. Sarah, Plain and Tall is done in the same style of the books in the American Girl's Collection. It gives children a lesson in history, but it is hidden among an interesting story with adventure, drama and comedy. I think that this fact adds to the value of both of the books. If authors can make books that interest children and teach them something about their history, then they are truly effective authors. I think the audience intended for this book needs to be a little more mature than most of the other books we've looked at this semester. This book allows the children to use their imagination. They can imagine what Sarah looks like, how plain she really is. They can see the plows and the farm animals. Being able to see things in their head is a valuable skill for a child to have. I think that this book definitely gives children a glimpse into the past, like stepping onto a time machine. It definitely had more mature subject matter such as death of a parent, finding a new mate for the father figure and children's feelings of abandonment. Whatever the case, Sarah, Plain and Tall is a story for the ages which will be read for years to come.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Small Book with a Big Heart, January 29, 2002

By 

"kaia_espina" (Quezon City, Philippines) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sarah, Plain and Tall (Paperback)

Caleb and Annie are two young children who have had no mother for several years. Then one day, Sarah, a lady from Maine, answers an advertisement their father, Jacob, put in a newspaper, giving new hope to the family of three. Will she be the one to fill the emptiness in their hearts and the silence in their home, at last?

Some adjustments _will_ have to be made first. Sarah has to get used to living away from the ocean that she has known and loved all her life. Jacob has to get used to having a headstrong wife who is just as good at carpentry as he is. The children have to get used to a new and unorthodox mother. Yet their hope that everything will work out always shines through.

"Sarah, Plain and Tall" is a story about people learning to live together and become a family simply because they've grown to love each other. It is also about seeing both new things with old eyes and old things with new eyes. The reader will enjoy this short, joy-filled period in the lives of these characters, whether they are learning how to swim, sliding down haystacks, or tossing cut hair to birds.

Patricia MacLachlan uses very simple language, which only highlights her poet's gift of saying volumes and painting landscapes with a few well-chosen words. The images in the novel are as potent as images in poetry, even though everything is in prose. Every last word is meaningful.

I need only think of "Sarah, Plain and Tall" to remember that sometimes the simplest children's stories are the best.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love Makes A Family, April 19, 2001

By 

V Hartley (Clemson,SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sarah, Plain and Tall (Paperback)

Love Makes a Family

Sarah, Plain and Tall, is about a young girl named Anna who tells a love story about how her small family found their missing link to happiness. Anna's mother died at the birth of Caleb, Anna's younger brother. Since the death of her mother things have not seemed right around the prairie, there has been a longing for a mother figure. In the times of covered wagons and tumble weed, a man could write off for a mail order bride; which is what Jacob, Anna's father did. In response a young woman from Maine, named Sarah, showed up on the prairie in a yellow bonnet, she was plain and tall. Instantly the family fell in love with Sarah, she fit the roll of mother, nurturer, lover, and partner. Sarah completed the circle of love that made the family. Sarah, Plain and Tall is a love story, but not your typical love story. It is about the love that a young girl and her family crave for a mother. This story shows the importance of a female roll model in a family. Even though the family was fine and being taken care of, each other family members were missing something. Anna wanted someone to braid her hair, Caleb wanted someone to sing like his mother did, and Jacob wanted a partner to help him with raising his family and to give him affection. This is a love story, but a most unusual one. The structure is strong,and the characters firmly established. (Sutherland) This book shows the effect on how a mother type role is needed in the stability of a family. Once Sarah arrived, things in the family changed. Flowers were being hung up, children were taken care of, haircuts were given, and meals were always prepared. Everyone in the family became happy, and realized on what they had been missing out on since the death of their mother. Although, Sarah missed Maine but she herself found here roll to be satisfying. Sarah's character is a strong independent woman who is needed by three people who crave caring. A woman automatically has the instinct to be a mother. Sarah never realized hers until she found this family. Sarah had a simple life in Maine. She lived with her brother, who was about to be married. Sarah had never really had the opportunity to be needed. In Anna's family Sarah was needed and was loved. She became a mother and a partner over night; she fell in love with the family and her new life. " `We thought you might be thinking of leaving us,' I told her. `Because you miss the sea.' Sarah smiled. `No,' she said. `I will always miss my old home, but the truth of it is I would miss you more.'" The family was completed with Sarah in it, and Sarah's life was completed with the family in it. This book shows that no matter how complete a family is; a mother's love can make the family stable and secure. We all have voids in our lives, we just never know what they are until they are filled.