Cocklin2395Newbery
MacLachlan, Patricia.
Sarah, Plain and Tall.
New York: HarperCollins, 1985.
Plot Summary:
Anna and Caleb live with their father on a prairie, their mother died the day after Caleb was
born. Their father places an ad in the newspaper for a wife and one day gets a response from a
lady named Sarah. Sarah lives in Maine by the ocean with her cat, Seal. They write many letters
back and forth asking many questions about each other. One day they invite Sarah to come and
stay for a month to see if she likes it on the prairie. Sarah writes back that she would come by
train and that she is plain and tall. She comes during the spring and stays for a month, but she
misses her home and her friends a lot and thinks about going back home.
Major Concepts:
1. Adapting to a new home
2. Learning new ways of living
3. Learning new things
Evaluation:
1. Sarah leaves her home in Maine to come and live on the prairie with Anna, Caleb and
their father. Sarah has to get use to the fact that there is no ocean here and her friends are
not there with her. She missed her old home a lot, “I miss the sea,” said Sarah. She soon
got use to living on the prairie though and realized that if she left she would miss things
at the prairie also. “I will always miss my old home, but the truth of it is I would miss
you more.”
2. Sarah had to learn all about the life on the prairie. She learned how to plow, ride a horse,
and drive a wagon. In Maine she would walk everywhere but on the prairie you have to
drive because everything is farther away. “ I have never driven a wagon,” said Sarah, “I
can teach you,” said Maggie. Sarah also learned to make new friends with Maggie, her
closest neighbor.
3. Anna and Caleb also learn new things when Sarah came to stay. The learned about the
sea and about Sarah’s brother. They also learned how to swim in the cow’s watering
hole. “She tried to teach us how to float [in the cow pond].” Eventually they all learned
a little bit from each other.
Personal Comments:
This story shows how one woman adapts to the changes that take place in her life. Sarah is brave
and strong; she went to a place opposite from her current home to live with complete strangers.
She has courage and is not afraid to take a stand. This book taught me to stand up for myself and
to always try to learn something new from the people I meet daily.