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Sarah, Plain and Tall |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
 Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0064402053 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
Book Review
MacLachlan, author of Unclaimed Treasures, has written an affecting tale for children. In the late 19th century a widowed midwestern farmer with two children--Anna and Caleb--advertises for a wife. When Sarah arrives she is homesick for Maine, especially for the ocean which she misses greatly. The children fear that she will not stay, and when she goes off to town alone, young Caleb--whose mother died during childbirth--is stricken with the fear that she has gone for good. But she returns with colored pencils to illustrate for them the beauty of Maine, and to explain that, though she misses her home, "the truth of it is I would miss you more." The tale gently explores themes of abandonment, loss and love.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From School Library Journal
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Skylark |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0064406229 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
From Booklist
Gr. 4-6. This successful sequel to Sarah Plain and Tall (1985), which was recently televised, has enough dramatic tension and character development to satisfy devoted fans of the first book. Mail-order bride Sarah goes back east with children Anna and Caleb, leaving husband Jacob, whose name is "written in the land," to deal with their drought-ridden farm. Sarah's home in Maine makes a favorable impression on the children, but they miss their father and fear they will never return to the prairie. Finally, Jacob comes to fetch them home: "Papa looked at Sarah. `It rained,' he said. `I never thought you'd come,' whispered Sarah. `It rained,' said Papa again, his voice so soft it could have been the wind I heard." MacLachlan packs a lot into this spare tale and never diverges from the child's point of view, even when... |
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Caleb's Story |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0064405907 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 3-4 days. |
From Publishers Weekly
Taking over the reins from his sister Anna, who narrated Sarah, Plain and Tall and Skylark, Caleb describes the event in this heartwarming third installment, in which Jacob is reunited with his father. As the novel opens, readers meet Cassie, the baby whom Sarah carries in Skylark; the country is at war in Europe; and Anna leaves home to work for a doctor in town and gives Caleb the responsibility of recording the family events. While Jacob drives his older daughter to town, Cassie spots a man on the property. Thinking it's one of Cassie's imaginary friends, Caleb ignores her until he sees the man for himself. When Jacob returns, the mystery of the man's identity is revealed, and wounds from the past begin to slowly heal. In an uplifting subplot, Caleb discovers why Jacob's father did not correspond with his son... |
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Patricia Maclachlan |
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| Author: |
David L. Russell |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0805745750 |
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Book Description
Twayne's United States Authors Series presents concise critical introductions to great writers and their works. Devoted to critical interpretation and discussion of an author's work, each study takes account of major literary trends and important scholarly contributions and provides new critical insights with an original point of view. An Authors Series volume addresses readers ranging from advanced high school students to university professors. The book suggests to the informed reader new ways of considering a writer's work. A reader new to the work under examination will, after reading the Authors Series, be compelled to turn to the originals, bringing to the reading a basic knowledge and fresh critical perspectives. Each volume features: A critical, interpretive study and explication of the author's works A... |
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Baby |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0440411459 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
From Publishers Weekly
PW described this story of a family that takes in an abandoned baby as "lean and lyrical," adding that the Newbery Medalist "gracefully entwines past and present." All ages. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-Baby refers to two characters in this beautifully written and moving novel-12-year-old Larkin's infant brother (who has died before the story begins) and Sophie, who is literally left in a basket in the driveway at Larkin's house. The girl's parents and Byrd, her grandmother, have been hiding their grief over their baby's death behind a wall of silence. Letting themselves love Sophie, even though they know her mother will eventually come back for her, helps them break through the barrier. When Sophie's mother does... |
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More Perfect Than the Moon CD |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Audio Compact Disc - Unabridged |
| ISBN: |
0060735929 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 2-3 days. |
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5–Another heartwarming installment in the saga of the Witting family, first made famous in Sarah, Plain and Tall (HarperCollins, 1985). In this fourth book, Anna is working with Dr. Sam in town and is engaged to Justin, and Caleb is busy on the farm, so it is the youngest member of the family's turn to keep a journal. Cassie, almost in third grade, is a watcher, a listener, and a writer. While Caleb scoffs at her stories as not being true, Cassie defends her imaginative entries as "my truth." When Sarah announces that she is going to have a baby, Cassie is angry, and worried that her mother won't have enough love left over for her. She is determined not to like the "terrible baby." As her loving family helps her come to terms with the inevitable birth, the journal entries provide a way for... |
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Who Loves Me |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060279761 |
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| Availability: |
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From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 3–In this simple, soothing bedtime story, a little girl asks the title question, and her striped orange cat offers a litany of those who love her until the child drifts off to sleep. Their quiet conversation covers everyone from her parents and brother to the family dog, who would love her even if she didn't give him treats. Shepherd's stylized illustrations are bathed in rich, warm shades of goldenrod and ochre, through which MacLachlan's cozy, comforting dialogue meanders like a song. A warm and lyrical selection.–Catherine Threadgill, Charleston County Public Library, SC Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
PreS. In MacLachlan's latest picture book, a little girl... |
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Bittle |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060009616 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 3-4 days. |
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2–Nigel, a cat, and Julia, a dog, are perfectly happy in their big yellow house–until their owners bring home a new baby. Slowly, the animals warm up to the infant and come to play a big role in her life. They call her "Bittle" (because she's "just a little bit of a thing"), soothe her to sleep at night, and play with her during the day. As the child grows, Nigel and Julia find that they share common interests with her, such as catching butterflies and a fascination with the toilet. Eventually, the pets discover that they have grown to love Bittle. Readers see that she loves them too as the book concludes with her first words: "Woof" and "Meow." Yaccarino's artwork matches the story perfectly. The colors are bright, the lines simple, and Julia and Nigel are clearly the dominant... |
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Bittle |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060009624 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 3-4 days. |
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2–Nigel, a cat, and Julia, a dog, are perfectly happy in their big yellow house–until their owners bring home a new baby. Slowly, the animals warm up to the infant and come to play a big role in her life. They call her "Bittle" (because she's "just a little bit of a thing"), soothe her to sleep at night, and play with her during the day. As the child grows, Nigel and Julia find that they share common interests with her, such as catching butterflies and a fascination with the toilet. Eventually, the pets discover that they have grown to love Bittle. Readers see that she loves them too as the book concludes with her first words: "Woof" and "Meow." Yaccarino's artwork matches the story perfectly. The colors are bright, the lines simple, and Julia and Nigel are clearly the dominant... |
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What You Know First |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0064434923 |
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| Availability: |
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From Publishers Weekly
Newbery Medalist MacLachlan's minimal, deeply resonant text centers on a girl whose parents have sold their farm on the prairie-clearly not by choice. As she anticipates all that she will miss and devises plots to avoid moving ("Or maybe/ I'll live in a tree./ The tall cottonwood that was small/ when Papa was small..."), the child pieces together the sights, sounds and tactile sensations of the only life she has ever known. Her parents' attempts to soften the blow don't appease the determined narrator: "Mama says there's an ocean/ In the new place./ And Papa says there are trees./ I don't need trees,/ Only the one./ I don't need an ocean/ I've got an ocean of grass." But there are words that do offer solace: "What you know first stays with you, my Papa says./ But just in case I forget/ I will take a twig of the... |
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All the Places to Love |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060210982 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 3-4 days. |
From Publishers Weekly
MacLachlan's characteristically resonant language and Wimmer's majestic paintings affectingly celebrate the natural world and the family. Told in the voice of a child who lives on a farm with his parents and grandparents, the author's poetic narrative opens on the day of the boy's birth, when his grandmother holds him up to the open window, "So that what I heard first was the wind. / What I saw first were all the places to love: / The valley, / The river falling down over rocks, / The hilltop where the blueberries grew." The child introduces readers to the spots that each person in his family loves best: for his mother it is the hilltop where the sky is "an arm's length away"; for his grandfather, the dark, cool barn ("Where else, he says, can the soft sound of cows chewing / Make all the difference in the... |
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More Perfect than the Moon |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0060751797 |
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| Availability: |
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From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5–Another heartwarming installment in the saga of the Witting family, first made famous in Sarah, Plain and Tall (HarperCollins, 1985). In this fourth book, Anna is working with Dr. Sam in town and is engaged to Justin, and Caleb is busy on the farm, so it is the youngest member of the family's turn to keep a journal. Cassie, almost in third grade, is a watcher, a listener, and a writer. While Caleb scoffs at her stories as not being true, Cassie defends her imaginative entries as "my truth." When Sarah announces that she is going to have a baby, Cassie is angry, and worried that her mother won't have enough love left over for her. She is determined not to like the "terrible baby." As her loving family helps her come to terms with the inevitable birth, the journal entries provide a way for... |
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All the Places to Love |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060210990 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 2-3 days. |
From Publishers Weekly
MacLachlan's characteristically resonant language and Wimmer's majestic paintings affectingly celebrate the natural world and the family. Told in the voice of a child who lives on a farm with his parents and grandparents, the author's poetic narrative opens on the day of the boy's birth, when his grandmother holds him up to the open window, "So that what I heard first was the wind. / What I saw first were all the places to love: / The valley, / The river falling down over rocks, / The hilltop where the blueberries grew." The child introduces readers to the spots that each person in his family loves best: for his mother it is the hilltop where the sky is "an arm's length away"; for his grandfather, the dark, cool barn ("Where else, he says, can the soft sound of cows chewing / Make all the difference in the... |
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Skylark |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060233281 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 2-3 days. |
From Booklist
Gr. 4-6. This successful sequel to Sarah Plain and Tall (1985), which was recently televised, has enough dramatic tension and character development to satisfy devoted fans of the first book. Mail-order bride Sarah goes back east with children Anna and Caleb, leaving husband Jacob, whose name is "written in the land," to deal with their drought-ridden farm. Sarah's home in Maine makes a favorable impression on the children, but they miss their father and fear they will never return to the prairie. Finally, Jacob comes to fetch them home: "Papa looked at Sarah. `It rained,' he said. `I never thought you'd come,' whispered Sarah. `It rained,' said Papa again, his voice so soft it could have been the wind I heard." MacLachlan packs a lot into this spare tale and never diverges from the child's point of view, even when... |
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Sarah, Plain and Tall |
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| Author: |
Patricia MacLachlan |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060241012 |
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| Availability: |
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Book Review
MacLachlan, author of Unclaimed Treasures, has written an affecting tale for children. In the late 19th century a widowed midwestern farmer with two children--Anna and Caleb--advertises for a wife. When Sarah arrives she is homesick for Maine, especially for the ocean which she misses greatly. The children fear that she will not stay, and when she goes off to town alone, young Caleb--whose mother died during childbirth--is stricken with the fear that she has gone for good. But she returns with colored pencils to illustrate for them the beauty of Maine, and to explain that, though she misses her home, "the truth of it is I would miss you more." The tale gently explores themes of abandonment, loss and love.
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6-Glenn Close narrates Patricia... |
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