Journal Entry 4

Sarah, Plain and Tall

By Patricia MacLachlan

"An exquisite, sometimes painfully touching tale."

                                                                        -- The New York Times

As I began searching through the shelves at the CMC looking for a novel to read for this blog, I wasn't quite sure what I was looking for exactly. I didn't set out looking to choose a specific book, I wanted the book to choose me. As I was kneeling on the floor, Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan caught my eye. It wasn't the cover that got my attention - nothing much about it really seems to stand out. It was how the book looked old and worn, its pages yellowed, wrinkled, and torn and how it still stood on the shelf after all these years, never being considered too "outdated" or irrelevant for the CMC. The title too of course, slowly flooded back to my memory. I could vaguely remember having read it in elementary school (maybe grades 3 or 4?), but genuinely could not recall what it was about. I seemed to remember liking it enough, but nothing about the story seemed to stand out clearly in my mind. I know it was recommended we read books we haven't read before, but I really had the desire to reread Sarah, Plain and Tall. 

Sarah, Plain and Tall is timeless - such a classic. There's something to be said about a book published in 1985, introduced to the CMC in 1990, now with yellowed and torn pages, that STILL gets taken out on a regular basis.

Although the book is set somewhere in the late 19th to early 20th century, as I was reading it, I couldn't help but relate/compare the experiences of Anna to my own experiences when I was about her age. I felt such a personal connection to the book despite living in a very different time, proving the book's timelessness.  The reason I felt such a connection to Anna is because, I too, lost a parent when I was a child. I grew up in a lone parent family- just my mom, little brother and I. Like Anna, I also took on the role of "big sister", helping to take care of my little brother, and trying to protect him from as much as I could. As we learned in class, a sign of a great historical fiction book is one that makes us realize that all people, no matter what time period in history, share(d) the same needs, go through similar experiences, and need to depend on each other. 

Aside from my very personal connection to the book, there are of course other reasons why this piece of historical fiction literature is a great choice. For one, the book is like a mirror - reflecting the past back at us, allowing us to see the differences (but also similarities) between people living back then and our world today. Children today do not realize just how lucky they are and how much they are blessed with. Reading a book like this will allow them to take a quick glance at how they would be living if born 100 years ago. It is important they imagine the experiences of people who have lived in a different time and place. They get a glimpse of the chores, modes of transportation and communication, hobbies,  and careers they would likely have had if born at that place and time. The Witting family is also so very ordinary that it is easy to imagine the plot/events as real, to place themselves and their own families in their shoes and to understand as we also learned in class, that history happens to "ordinary people".

I think the fact that the word "plain" is mentioned so many times throughout the book, it makes us realize that ordinary people have exciting stories too. One doesn't need to have super powers, fame and fortune, or outstanding attributes or abilities to have a great story to tell.

All the elements in Sarah, Plain and Tall are very realistic and authentic in my opinion. The characters are realistic, their actions and speech are very believable for the setting of the book (traveling by horse and cart, sending letters as the only means of communication, manually plowing fields, etc.), and the events are believable for the time and place. All contributes to a great book, one that has even won a Newbery Medal.

I think many children, despite the setting of the book, can relate to the Witting family. Today, many children experience loss, divorce, lone parent and blended families. Because the Witting family seem so "plain" and the events that happen make them seem so ordinary, children can relate their own lives to them. The book helps teach children about loss and grief and different families, and because it is set in the past, children can begin to understand that things like these have been affecting families for years. We are all alike in some ways and we're never alone! Such an important message wrapped in an amazing history lesson that anyone should enjoy.