Sarah, plain and tall


By Patricia Maclahan
Age:7+
Realistic Fiction
Newbery Medal in 1986

Sarah, plain and tall, comes to join the family in the Prairies, in response to Jacob's ad for a wife, for a mother to his two motherless children Anna and Caleb. However Sarah misses her own home back in Maine - the smell of the ocean, the gulls, and the mist over the cliffs. The children fall in love with Sarah but are soon overcome by fear of being abandoned once again. At one point, it seems like Sarah might never come back. However Sarah comes back and reassures them how much she'll miss them (even more than Maine!) if she left. Narrated in the voice of Anna, this is a story of love and hope in small children,  it is gentle and heartwarming.

Skylark, Caleb's Story, More perfect than the moon, Grandfather's dance, all belong to a series following this book. Patricial Maclahan has several wonderful novels to her credit.

Picture: Wikipedia

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