When we needed to take a drive of 2-3 hours last week, I decided to give Patricia MacLachlan’s Sarah, Plain and Tall a try. I had checked the audiobook out from the library as a possibility, knowing the basic outlines of the story: it was about a mail-order bride.
What I didn’t realize was how deeply affecting the story hung on this basic framework would be. Truth be told, when the first lines were read into the listening air of my car, I thought, “This isn’t going to work.” The narrator, Anna, describes her mother’s death immediately after the birth of her younger brother Caleb. I was certain I would hear a definite, youthful voice from the back seat (probably my youngest) informing me that it wouldn’t do at all. Surprisingly, the voice never came.
This book is targeted for grades 3-6, but it tackles adult material. MacLachlan explores such significant themes: death and loss, fear of abandonment, love, choice. I was unprepared for the weightiness of these subjects, as well as for the delicacy and truthfulness with which they’re developed. I was unprepared, too, for the enormous dignity of Sarah herself, a mail-order bride who’s every inch a free and courageous spirit.
The girls listened raptly in the back seat, and I did the same at the wheel. I was glad we were listening together so I could field the occasional question, but there weren’t many questions. Read by Glenn Close, this cd set contains Sarah, Plain and Tall followed by two sequels: Skylark and Caleb’s Story. These trace the family’s further adventures after Sarah joins them.
“They’re about people’s relationships,” remarked my 8-year-old. I’m aware of few stories that handle the subject this well. It has something to do with the perceptive child narrator, Anna, also a writer; she hones in on more, or perhaps different, details than Laura Ingalls Wilder does in the Little House books. The result is a portrait of the interaction not just between the children and Sarah, but between Sarah and their father, that’s somehow fuller and more real without shooting over children’s heads or burdening them with things that are beyond them. I have great respect for this simply written, affecting tale.
Oh, didn’t you just love it? It’s truly one of the sparsest yet richest of stories, isn’t it?
You must see the Hallmark movie starring Glenn Close as Sarah. She fills the role beautifully. Skylark, its sequel, is just as good.
I’m glad you discovered this gem!
I had no idea SP&T had any sequels!
Same here. The only one I’d heard of before is ‘Sarah Plain and Tall.’ The sequels are very satisfying — they answer the questions you want answered at the end of the SP&T!
I’ve only seen the film and its sequel — I don’t think I’ve read the books, and I didn’t know there was a third one. I loved the films and the books sound good as well.
I’m so glad you discovered these books. They are some of our very favorites (the movies, too)!
I saw the films first (I believe MachLaclan had a hand in the scripts) and then read the book. I thought the book had a quiet loveliness that the film “almost” captured. Both film and book were great.
I read the books first, but then really loved that the movies captured the essence of the books so well! Wonderful books! I’m glad you and your girls both enjoyed them.