MacLachlan, Patricia. 1985. Sarah, plain and tall. New York: Harper Collins Children’s Books.

Although Anna and Caleb’s mom died when Caleb was born, Anna still misses her. When her mother was alive, Papa and Mama sang every day, and now, Papa doesn’t sing at all. To help put his family back together, Papa advertises in the newspaper for a wife and receives an answer from a lady named Sarah. Sarah lives in Maine, and leaves her family and all that she knows to begin a new life with Anna, Caleb and their Papa. Although Sarah seems to love her new family, she still talks a lot about the life she left behind, and when she finally is ready to take the wagon to town on her own, Caleb and Anna worry that she won’t come back at all. In this straightforward story set in the late 1800s, MacLachlan tells a touching story from a young girl’s point of view. Readers will enjoy the way Sarah names the farm animals and makes them pets and will giggle along with Caleb and Anna when Sarah tells about her “three old aunts who all squawk together like crow at dawn”. The story is a tale of hope, happiness and, most of all, of family.