SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
MacLachlan, Patricia. 1985. SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 9780066241025

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL is a story about a family living on the vast prairie in the early years of the 20th century. The story begins when their mother died the day after Caleb was born. Their house on the prairie is quiet now, and their 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. And into their lives comes Sarah, with her own needful loneliness and searching, to help them create a whole family. The children fear she will not stay, and when she goes off to town alone, the family is concerned that she is gone for good. When she returns, she explains that, "I will always miss my old home, but the truth of it is I would miss you more."

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
MacLachlan tells a simple, but unusual, story of a midwestern farming family searching for a replacement mother. Anna, probably about ten or twelve years old, narrates the story. MacLachlan’s short tale of abandonment, loss and love is about a family’s hope for a new beginning. It has a compact efficiency that creates a deceptive simplicity. The characters openly discuss their desire to have Sarah stay on the prairie with them. Through MacLachlan's prose you get a sense of the emptiness left when Anna's mother died, and the sincere longing for someone to provide a mother's love. MacLachlan provides many details of farm life and of a time before electricity and motorized vehicles, such as “Papa taught Sarah how to plow the fields, guiding the plow behind Jack and Old Bess, the reins around her neck.” Through descriptions in the story the reader is able to determine the setting. Anna and Sarah’s descriptions allow the reader to picture the family’s home and farmland. MacLachlan carefully chooses her words so that the reader is not overwhelmed with descriptions and events. The rhythmic flow makes this tale easy to read. This is a great novel that students can easily follow, comprehend, and understand as my class did as we read it. Great novel for doing character traits!

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
*The New York Times
"An exquisite, sometimes painfully touching tale."
*School Library Jounal
"A book that is filled with wisdom, gentle humor, and the practical concerns necessary for a satisfying life. A tender story about the fragile beginnings of a family relationship on its way to permanence."
*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.

5. CONNECTIONS:
**Create a character trait web reflecting on Sarah.
*Compare the coastal region to the plains region including geographical features, weather, and resources in Social Studies.
*Have the students draw Sarah’s home in Maine using Sarah’s descriptions and the Witting’s home on the prairie using Anna’s descriptions?
*Students create their own book by summarizing each chapter.
*Other books in this Patricia MacLachlan trilogy:
Skylark. ISBN 9780064406222
Caleb’s Story. ISBN 9780060236052