Sarah, Plain and Tall

American children’s writer Patricia MacLachlan published her first novel, Sarah, Plain and Tall, in 1985. The novel won the Newberry Medal in 1986, the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and the Golden Kite Award. MacLachlan loosely based the story off a woman her mother knew who moved from Maine to the prairie to become a wife and mother. Using this premise, the novel explores themes of The Beauty of New Beginnings, A Child’s Desire for Security and Stability, and Finding Comfort and Connection in Nature. MacLachlan went on to write four more books following the Whiting family: Skylark, Caleb’s Story, More Perfect than the Moon, and Grandfather’s Dance. MacLachlan also adapted the series into a screenplay for a Hallmark Channel movie series starring Christopher Walken as Jacob Whiting and Susan Sarandon as Sarah Wheaton. Susan Sarandon also narrated the audiobook series.

This guide refers to the 2013 Harper Collins EPub Edition.

Plot Summary

Sometime in the late 19th century, Anna and Caleb Whiting live with their father, Jacob Whiting, and dogs Nick and Lottie on the American prairie. Their mother died just one day after giving birth to Caleb, and for a few days, Anna struggled to bond with her brother. Now Anna helps with the household chores while Caleb pesters her with questions about his favorite subject, the story of his birth. Caleb has no memory of his mother, but he does know that Papa no longer sings as he once did.

One day, Anna and Caleb’s father arrives home from a trip to town and announces he has placed an ad in the newspaper for a new wife who would also become a mother to the children. A woman from Maine, Sarah Wheaton, answers the ad, and she and the family correspond back and forth, the children asking her more about her life. She explains that she lives near the sea with her brother, who will soon marry. Eventually, she and the Whitings arrange for her to visit. She writes that she is “plain and tall” and will wear a yellow bonnet so that Jacob can recognize her when she arrives (15).

The children anxiously wait at home when Papa travels to the train station to collect Sarah. When they see the dust from the wagon and a yellow bonnet, they know she has arrived. Sarah brings her cat and gifts from the sea for the children. At first, Anna thinks that Sarah misses her home, but Sarah bonds with the dogs and the sheep and settles into her new surroundings. Sarah writes letters home to her brother, including drawings of the children and life on the prairie. As spring and summer pass, Sarah, Jacob, and the children grow closer. She and the children gather flowers, and Sarah teaches them a song about summer. On another occasion, Sarah cuts everyone’s hair. The family teaches her about winter on the prairie. Papa even makes Sarah a “sand dune” out of a haystack, and everyone enjoys sliding down it as Sarah describes once doing with her brother.

One day the Whitings’ neighbors, Matthew and Maggie, visit to help with the plowing. Maggie brings Sarah flowers to plant and encourages Sarah not to be sad about leaving Maine: Maggie left her home in Tennessee to move to the prairie and marry Matthew, and though she still misses her home, she is happy in her new life.

Inspired by Maggie, who urged her to visit, Sarah asks Jacob to teach her to ride the horse and drive the wagon. He promises to teach her after he repairs the roof. Sarah is a good carpenter and helps with the roof repairs just in time for a storm to pummel the farm; the family shelters with all the animals in the barn. After they replant the crops damaged in the storm, Jacob teaches Sarah to ride a horse and drive the wagon. She leaves the next day, and the children fear she has decided to return to the sea. However, Sarah returns by suppertime and brings gifts for the children, including three pencils the color of the sea. Papa says he and Sarah will marry in the fall.