Reviews for Sarah, Plain and Tall

The average rating for Sarah, Plain and Tall based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-01-11 00:00:00 GEORGE ESTES This is a slight book, an hour or two's read at most, yet it's deeply moving and addresses the existential problems of life in a straightforward way. The book is as plain as Sarah, but neither the word "plain" nor Sarah's beauty or lack of it are ever defined. Does 'plain' mean not-good looking, not beautiful on the surface or does it mean unadorned, without unnecessary ornament, both in looks and her character. In the context of the book either way makes perfect sense. The story has but a small plot, a dead mother, a child who misses what he's never known, an older sister who is bored with comforting her younger brother, a father who does his best but is overwhelmed and lonely as the only adult holding his family together. And then comes Sarah. Answering an advert for a wife, we never learn why she never married and was willing to leave her home for an unknown man, hard work in a deeply rural setting and a ready-made family. Problems are presented, solutions suggested but most important in this book, are the feelings engendered by the meeting of this lonely family and this lonely woman and how they all bond, tentatively at first, into a beautiful family with a future expanded by love. The most interesting part of the book for me was Sarah. Who was she? Who was this woman who was homesick for a life that is never described that she left because of loneliness? In the same way as the mad woman in the attic in Jane Eyre has her story unfolded in the Wide Sargasso Sea, I feel a book that tells of Sarah and what there was in her life that drove her to reply to an advertisement for a wife and mother in a place very far from home is a story waiting to be told. The writing is simple, ideal for a child, but the book, the central mystery of Sarah, makes it just as interesting for an adult. I loved this little book.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-05-25 00:00:00 Stephan Matthies This is really a lovely little story, beautifully told, deceptively simple, full of hope and fear and love. Sarah, Plain and Tall, winner of the Newbery Medal (one the shortest books ever to win that award), was written in 1985 but feels like something from a much earlier time. It could have been written 80 or 100 years ago. It's timeless. It's based on a true story about the author's ancestors.* There are a lot of mail order bride romances out there, but this is one from the children's point of view, although you catch fascinating glimpses of what's going on in the minds of their father Jacob, and Sarah, his potential bride. Anna and Caleb are two young children who in the U.S. plains with their widowed father, in maybe the late 1800s? Their mother died the day after Caleb was born.They had come for her in a wagon and taken her away to be buried. And then the cousins and aunts and uncles had come and tried to fill up the house. But they couldn't.Now Jacob has advertised for a mail order wife, and Sarah Wheaton from Maine, who describes herself as "plain and tall," writes a letter to him. They arrange for Sarah - and her gray cat, Seal - to come visit their family for a month, to see if it's a good fit, before making a permanent decision. Caleb wears his heart on his sleeve, desperately wanting Sarah to stay but afraid that their house is too small, and that he is too loud and pesky. Anna hopes too, but is more cautious and watchful. Their father Jacob learns to laugh and sing again, even as he is arguing with Sarah about whether she should wear his overalls, ride his skittish horse, and help fix the roof. And Sarah ... Sarah misses the sea. But "there are always things to miss, no matter where you are.” And things - and people - that work their way into your heart and find a home there. * I'd love to know more about the original story but there's not a lot out there, at least that I've been able to find so far, other than that MacLachlan's mother and/or aunt begged her to write a book about this story.