A great ELA supplement to Patricia MacLachlan’s Newbery Medal book. Includes vocabulary, content questions, discussion topics, and students will learn number patterns, showing contrast, and symbolism.
Tag: Patricia MacLachlan
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (J Fiction)
Sarah, Plain and Tall
Patricia MacLachlan (J Fiction)
Sarah Wheaton is from Maine and loves the sea. She can braid hair, make stew, and bake bread, but would rather paint and build bookshelves. Her favorite colors are the colors of the sea: blue, gray, and green. She can keep a fire going at night, has a cat named Seal, and isn’t quite sure if she snores or not. Perhaps the most important thing to know about Sarah is that she’s traveling to the prairie to be a wife to Jacob Witting and a mother to his two children: Anna and Caleb. She’s coming and the children are hoping beyond hope that she won’t leave like their mother did so many years ago when she died soon after childbirth. Is it possible for Sarah—who loves the sea—to be happy with fields and grass and sky and nothing else? Can she make a home without her beloved blue and gray and green? After thirty days, they’ll know for sure.
Sarah, Plain and Tall is the first in a five-book series by Patricia MacLachlan and is one of the shortest books to ever win the Newbery Medal, which was awarded to MacLachlan in 1986. Based on a true story about the author’s ancestors, the book tells the story of an independent and stubborn woman from Maine who enters the home and lives of the Wittings. While the family introduces Sarah to haystacks, cow ponds, and lambs, she shares strange shells, tales of the sea, and a new word from Maine: ayuh meaning yes. Between her naiveté about farm life (she names the sheep and chickens) and her audacity to swim in the cow pond and wear overalls (have you ever heard of such a thing?), Sarah charms everyone around her and begins to heal a broken family.
MacLachlan takes readers back to the late 1800s with a timeless story about home and family set during a time when life was simple, struggles were many, and family meant everything. Through kindness, patience, and love, a plain and tall woman from Maine made the Witting’s house a home again by filling it with songs and treasures from the sea. So, was it possible for Sarah to be happy surrounded by fields and grass and sky and nothing else? Ayuh.
Rating: 5/5
NEW!! Want to share this book with your homeschooler or classroom? Download our affordable study guide by visiting https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Study-Guide-Sarah-Plain-and-Tall-by-Patricia-MacLachlan-11171286
The True Gift: A Christmas Story by Patricia MacLachlan (J)
The True Gift: A Christmas Story
Patricia MacLachlan (Juvenile Fiction)
Lily and Liam are off to Grandpa and Gran’s farm for Christmas. They always go in December and then wait for Mama and Papa to join them on Christmas Day. Lily likes the sameness that this time of year brings: the walks into town, the trip to the lilac library, and helping Gran make cookies. But when her brother spots a white cow standing alone in a snowy meadow, Lily’s predictable holiday is suddenly threatened. “Do we know if she’s lonely?” Liam asks his sister. “She’s a cow,” replies Lily. “Cows don’t care.” But Liam cares and because of this, Lily knows that White Cow is bound to ruin everything…especially Christmas.
From the author who delighted us with Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan gives readers another book filled with compassion, love, and family. She introduces us to Lily, a young girl who finds herself angered by her brother’s selfless desire to help a creature that finds itself quite alone on Christmas. Fortunately, Liam’s determined desire to bring comfort to this lonely creature is enough to eventually whittle down Lily’s stubborn defenses until at last, she surprises herself by whispering to White Cow one night, “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of you.” Those few words set in motion a turning of Lily’s heart, as well as the fate of another soul in need of rescuing.
The True Gift shows us that any small act of kindness isn’t truly small at all. By giving us a simple story of a young girl, a small boy, and a lonely white cow, MacLachlan reminds us that Christmas is about giving from the heart and that the act of bestowing even the slightest bit of charity to another being is perhaps one of the truest gifts of all.
Rating: 4/5
Posted: 12/4/2018
* Book cover image attributed to www.barnesandnoble.com
The Dusty Jacket 