Sarah, Plain and Tall

Title: Sarah, Plain and Tall
Author: Patricia MacLachlan
Number of Pages: 58
Publisher: The Trumpet Club
Copyright Date: 1985
Grade Level: Intermediate Grades (4-6)
Honors/Awards: Newbery Medal
Type of Book: Chapter Book/Multicultural

Synopsis:
Anna lives with her Papa, Jacob and her younger brother, Caleb on a farm. Her mother died when Caleb was born. Ever since she died, Papa didn't sing. Papa sends out for a wife, feeling that his children need a mother. The response that he gets back is from Sarah. Sarah has been living in Maine with her brother, but now that her brother is getting married, she feels it's time to move out. They set up a time when she can come to visit and see how she likes the farm. Her last letter before she arrives says, "Tell them I sing."
When Sarah arrives with her yellow bonnet and her cat, Anna and Caleb are overjoyed to see her and get to know her. Sarah tells them about the sea, and Anna and Caleb show her their sheep. Sarah brings them seashells, and Anna and Caleb help her pick wildflowers to dry in the winter. Sarah and the family sing together, and Papa sings too. The whole visit, Anna and Caleb wonder if she will marry Papa and stay with them or go back home to the sea she loves so dearly.
Sarah insists that Jacob teach her how to drive by herself, and Anna and Caleb are nervous about why she wants to go into town by herself. They don't want her to leave, but they aren't naive to the possibility. When Sarah goes into town, they spend the day waiting for her to return. When Sarah finally comes back, she brings blue and gray and green colored pencils: the colors of the sea. She tells them that she will always miss the sea, but she would miss Anna and Caleb and Jacob much more than she could ever miss the sea.

Commentary:
Sarah, Plain and Tall is a beautifully written book that, in the midst of its simplicity, gives the reader countless reasons to fall in love with Anna, Caleb, Papa, and Sarah. Caleb's inquisitiveness, Anna's gentle heart, Papa's quiet spirit, and of course Sarah, plain and tall touch the reader's heart and allow the reader to relate to each of the characters on a personal level.

Teaching Ideas:

• Have children make a table of contents with the chapter titles (shows the theme/main ideas of the chapter) à Idea from Fountas & Pinnell
• Character Web
• Bring seashells in for children to explore, do crafts with them, identify their names from a seashell resource book
• Venn Diagrams comparing and contrasting (the sea and the cow ponds, the sea and the prarie)
• Study about prairies
• Make a habitat shoebox
• “Virtual field trips”
• Adding with sea animals or prairie animals (could also tie in algebra with two different kinds of animals – because you can’t combine letter numbers and regular numbers)
• Practice writing letters (perhaps get a pen pal in another class)
• Brainstorm about traveling to a different place (talk to a partner and make a chart)
• Talk about one-room school houses (and perhaps a field trip to Genesee Country Museum)
• State projects on Maine and Kansas

Related Books:

Books by Patricia MacLachlan:
What you Know First
Baby
Journey
More Perfect than the Moon
Books about the Sea:
Time of Wonder by Robert McClosky
One Small Square Seashore by Donald M. Silver
Books about Family:
Mama One, Mama Two by Patricia MacLachlan
Books about living on the Prairie:
The Little House Cookbook by Barbara M. Walker