Rating: 10 of 10 stars
Patricia Maclachlan's Sarah Plain and Tall recounts the story of a family in rural Kansas around 1910. Caleb doesn't remember his mother who died at his birth, so he often asks his sister Larkin to tell him the story of it. In so doing, he hopes to remember her and regain something of his mother.
We discover that their father has advertised in the newspapers for a wife, at last receiving an answer from Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton. She offers information about herself and invites further correspondence if they should wish it.
After several exchanges of letters between her and the family members, Sarah travels across the country from her home on the shore of Maine for a month-long trial visit. "I will come by train," she writes. "I will wear a yellow bonnet. I am plain and tall."
So begins the quiet adventure she and the family embark upon, discovering each other's interests and ways. The children notice that Sarah misses the water and the shape of her life in the land back East. They hope she and her cat, Seal, will stay.
I reread this favorite last night. With her economical language and the ear of a poet, Maclachlan gets people just right. She has the gift of making you see the images of everyday behavior fresh from her mind's eye. I don't find a single misstep in it. I cherish as well that she doesn't give us a story of children resentful of a parent's remarriage. How refreshing to discover that people have many more ways to respond to such events than those to which we are usually treated.
Usual borrowers: Third grade and up
Genres: Award winners, historical fiction, people and relationships
Also: 8 1/2 or Better List
There is also an audio version of the story narrated by Glenn Close.
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