Sarah, Plain and Tall


Book Description

"Did Mama sing every day?" Caleb asks his sister Anna. "Every-single-day," she answers. "Papa sang, too." Their mother died the day after Caleb was born. Their house on the prairie is quiet now, and Papa doesn't sing anymore. Then Papa puts an ad in the paper, asking for a wife, and he receives a letter from one Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton, of Maine. Papa, Anna, and Caleb write back. Caleb asks if she sings. Sarah decides to come for a month. She writes Papa: I will come by train. I will wear a yellow bonnet. I am plain and tall, and Tell them I sing. Anna and Caleb wait and wonder. Will Sarah be nice? Will she like them? Will she stay?




Skylark


Book Description

The second book in the series that began with the Newbery Medal–winning Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. My mother, Sarah, doesn't love the prairie. She tries, but she can't help remembering what she knew first. Sarah came to the prairie from Maine to marry Papa. But that summer, a drought turned the land dry and brown. Fires swept across the fields and coyotes came to the well in search of water. So Sarah took Anna and Caleb back east, where they would be safe. Papa stayed behind. He would not leave his land. Maine was beautiful, but Anna missed home, and Papa. And as the weeks went by, she began to wonder what would happen if the rains never came. Would she and Caleb and Sarah and Papa ever be a family again?




Caleb's Story


Book Description

The third book in the series that began with the Newbery Medal–winning Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. Anna has done something terrible. She has given me a journal to fill. "It's your job now," Anna says as she hands Caleb her journals, asking him to continue writing the family story. But Sarah, Jacob, Anna, Caleb, and their new little sister, Cassie, have already formed a family, and Caleb fears there will be nothing left to write about. That is, before Cassie discovers a mysterious old man in the barn, and everything changes. Everyone is excited about the arrival of a new family member—except for Jacob, who holds a bitter grudge. Only the special love of Caleb, and the gift he offers, can help to mend the pain of the past.




A Family of Readers


Book Description

Two of the most trusted reviewers in the field join with top authors, illustrators, and critics in a definitive guide to choosing books for children—and nurturing their love of reading. A FAMILY OF READERS is the definitive resource for parents interested in enriching the reading lives of their children. It’s divided into four sections: 1. Reading to Them: Choosing and sharing board books and picture books with babies and very young children. 2. Reading with Them: Launching the new reader with easy readers and chapter books. 3. Reading on Their Own: Exploring what children read—and how they read—by genre and gender. 4. Leaving Them Alone: Respecting the reading privacy of the young adult. Roger Sutton knows how and why children read. He must, as the editor in chief of THE HORN BOOK, which since 1924 has been America’s best source for reviews of books for young readers. But for many parents, selecting books for their children can make them feel lost. Now, in this essential resource, Roger Sutton and Martha V. Parravano, executive editor at the magazine, offer thoughtful essays that consider how books are read to (and then by) young people. They invite such leading authors and artists as Maurice Sendak, Katherine Paterson, Margaret Mahy, and Jon Scieszka, as well as a selection of top critics, to add their voices about the genres they know best. The result is an indispensable readers’ companion to everything from wordless board books to the most complex and daring young adult novels.







Journey


Book Description

Journey is eleven the summer his mother leaves him and his sister, Cat, with their grandparents. He is sad and angry, and spends the summer looking for the clues that will explain why she left. Journey searches photographs for answers. He hunts family resemblances in Grandma's albums. Looking for happier times, he tries to put together the torn pieces of the pictures his mother shredded before her departure. And he also searches the photographs his grandfather takes as the older man attempts to provide Journey with a past. In the process, the boy learns to look and finds that, for him, the camera is a means of finding things his naked eye has missed--things like inevitability of his mother's departure and the love that still binds his family.




An Instructional Guide for Literature: Sarah, Plain and Tall


Book Description

This simple story will have young readers enjoying every moment of Sarah's journey with a small family to become the mother-figure they desperately need, by completing fun, challenging lessons and activities provided in this instructional guide for literature. This guide will encourage readers to explore the humanity of the characters who long to be loved. The lessons and activities are rigorous yet engaging and will encourage students to learn such skills as analyzing and comprehending story elements in multiple ways, practicing close reading and text-based vocabulary, and determining meaning through text-dependent questions. Add rigor to your students' explorations of rich, complex literature by implementing this instructional guide for literature into your classroom today!




The Poet's Dog


Book Description

From Newbery Medal winner Patricia MacLachlan comes a poignant story about two children, a poet, and a dog and how they help one another survive loss and recapture love. 3 starred reviews. "Just what I needed," raves Brightly. "It's a heart-warming story of loss and love that filled me with hope for a better future and renewed my belief in good." Teddy is a gifted dog. Raised in a cabin by a poet named Sylvan, he grew up listening to sonnets read aloud and the comforting clicking of a keyboard. Although Teddy understands words, Sylvan always told him there are only two kinds of people in the world who can hear Teddy speak: poets and children. Then one day Teddy learns that Sylvan was right. When Teddy finds Nickel and Flora trapped in a snowstorm, he tells them that he will bring them home—and they understand him. The children are afraid of the howling wind, but not of Teddy’s words. They follow him to a cabin in the woods, where the dog used to live with Sylvan . . . only now his owner is gone. As they hole up in the cabin for shelter, Teddy is flooded with memories of Sylvan. What will Teddy do when his new friends go home? Can they help one another find what they have lost?




Three Names


Book Description

A child's great-grandfather reminisces about the times he and his dog Three Names went to school on prairie roads in a wagon pulled by horses.




Sarah, Plain and Tall - Literature Kit Gr. 3-4


Book Description

A unique view on a survival story helps students to value the need for companionship. The comprehension quiz works great as a study guide for a final exam. Students begin by imagining the hardships with living as a pioneer on the American prairies. Answer true or false questions about Sarah's letter to Anna and Caleb. Complete sentences from the story with their missing vocabulary words. Do some investigation to learn about mica, something that Sarah says her dune sparkled with. Use events from the story to inspire a tercet poem. Students imagine interviewing Sarah about her experiences. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: A story filled with wisdom, gentle humor and the practical concerns necessary for a satisfying life. This Newbery Medal-winning story is based on the true adventures of a family living on the vast prairie in the early years of the 20th century. The story begins when Anna and Caleb—missing their mother who died—wish for another woman to make their father laugh again. Sarah responds to an ad, stating she will come by train, wearing a yellow bonnet and that she is plain and tall. And into their lives comes Sarah—with her own needful loneliness and searching—to help them create a whole family. But life on the endless prairie can be hard and unforgiving, taking all a person's strength and courage just to survive.