Plot Summary: Anna is a girl living in the Midwest during the pioneer days. She lives with her father, Jacob, and her little brother, Caleb. Jacob has written to a newspaper back East for a mail order bride. Sarah Elizabeth Wheaton answers his ad. She comes to live with the family for a “trial month,” and the whole family falls in love with her. The kids are constantly anxious that she will leave. Sarah misses her home in Maine and the ocean. She also wants some more freedom and asks to learn how to drive the wagon. One day she leaves in the wagon to go to town, and it looks like there is going to be a big storm. The family waits with bated breath, and they see Sarah coming down the road.
Personal Reaction:
This book is great for young readers first graduating into chapter books. It is an easy, satisfying story to read. The dialog of this story is critical. The children listen with bated breath to everything Sarah says looking for clues as to her intentions. I love the unspoken dialog between Caleb and Anna as they make eye contact. In addition, the historical value of this work is important, because kids are getting further and further away from our pioneer roots.
MacLachlan, P. (1985). Sarah, plain and tall. New York: HarperCollins.
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