Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MaclachlanIndieBound Description: "Did Mama sing every day?"
Caleb asks his sister Anna.
"Every-single-day," she answers.
"Papa sang, too."
Their mother died the day after Caleb was born. Their house on the prairie is quiet now, and Papa doesn't sing anymore. Then Papa puts an ad in the paper, asking for a wife, and he receives a letter from one Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton, of Maine. Papa, Anna, and Caleb write back. Caleb asks if she sings. Sarah decides to come for a month. She writes Papa: I will come by train. I will wear a yellow bonnet. I am plain and tall, and Tell them I sing. Anna and Caleb wait and wonder. Will Sarah be nice? Will she like them? Will she stay?
My Thoughts: Such a jewel of a book! It is a slim volume but so lovely. It is a real lesson to authors that when it comes to writing less can be so much more. These days as I struggle with words, I am really in awe of how much story, character and emotion Patricia Maclachlan told by so few words.