Sarah, Plain and Tall

Sarah, Plain and Tall is a children's book written by Patricia MacLachlan, and the winner of the 1986 Newbery Medal and the 1986 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. It explores themes of loneliness, abandonment, and coping with change. The novel is set in the western United States during the late 19th century. Jacob Witting, a widowed farmer who is still saddened by the death of his wife during childbirth several years earlier finds that the task of taking care of his farm and two children, Anna and Caleb, is too difficult to handle alone. He writes an ad in the newspaper for a mail-order bride. Sarah, from Maine, answers his ad and travels out to become his wife. There are five books in this series about the Witting family. The...