Patricia MacLachlan: Book Reviews and Videos

Patricia MacLachlan writes stories with a strong poetic sensibility. Her words are sparse and always carefully chosen to evoke a great deal of feeling without a lot of excessive verbiage.

Sarah, Plain and Tall is a fairly short book, perfect in length for a young reader. However, the images of the family -- their sadness after the death of the mother and how eventually the father advertises for someone to share their life -- carries much unspoken emotion that colors the story.

Sarah is the woman from Maine who answers the ad. She arrives to the prairie with her box of paints which she uses to share her love of the ocean with the young children she is getting to know. Each member of the family appreciates something different about Sarah, and they all are devastated when she tells them she must return home to Maine for a visit.  The children worry Sarah will not return because she loves the sea so much. But Sarah does return and she marries their father. The story ends on a note of hope and promise.

Life for the Witting family continues after the events of Sarah, Plain and Tall. The story Skylark occurs two years later when a severe drought and the threat of a fire puts its strain on the family and their strength to endure.

Children who enjoyed Sarah, Plain and Tall may be curious as to what happens with this family that had lost their mother and later regained a stepmother and friend. Sequels are popular because we can fall in love with characters who can sometimes take on such strong personalities that it's hard to let them go.

Skylark can be read as a book and then viewed as a video. Nice family activity to share with your little ones. 

The old cliche of a baby left on the doorstep is how this story by Patricia MacLachlan begins. The baby whose mother has left her behind soon enchants the whole family who must keep the words of the mother's note in the backs of their minds -- that she will one day return to take her little one back.

The story is complicated by the fact that this same family has recently lost a little brother because of complications at birth. The parents have been unable to talk about him and thus to work through their grief. Through caring for the new little baby girl who is thrust upon them, the family must learn to move beyond their grief and to talk about their own little baby they have lost, naming him for the first time.