Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

Sarah, Plain and Tall is about a family that lost their mother. Anna and Caleb are the children who live with their father, Jacob. Jacob puts an advertisement in the newspapers for a wife. The response he gets is from a lady named Sarah who lives by the sea. So when she comes out to the country, she goes through a phase where she missed her family and her home. Then she gets Jacob to teach her how to ride a horse and drive the wagon by herself. Meanwhile, Anna and Caleb get attached to Sarah. One day Sarah takes the wagon to town and Anna and Caleb are afraid she won't come back. Sarah does come back to the farm and marries Jacob.

I absolutely loved this book! I actually read it in one sitting because I thought it was so good. I think the main thing for me was that it was based in the country, which is where I grew up and a place that I absolutely love. The lessons that were brought out in this book were things that everyone can relate to. Sarah moves from the sea and leaves her brother and her aunts and everything she loves and goes to the country where everything is different, or so it seemed. I really liked how this book would show how Sarah missed this or missed that and then she found the equivalent of it in the country. For example, when she was talking about the dunes she used to slide down into the sea, Anna and Caleb showed her their dune, a tall stack of hay that they slid down.

My favorite line out of this book is the one that Maggie tells Sarah. "There is always something to miss, no matter where you are." These words are so true, especially for me. I was born and raised in the country and I love everything about the country. So when I moved to College Station I was miserable, red lights were my enemy! Well, after spending time up here when I would go back home I was shocked by what I felt. I missed College Station! While I was reading these words of wisdom from Maggie I felt like she was talking to me. I felt like I could relate to Sarah and how she felt. Sarah missed the sea and I missed the country, but if either one of us would leave, we would miss that too!