Sarah, Plain and Tall

I remember watching Sarah, Plain and Tall when it was a television series when I was growing up, and we loved watching the episodes as a family. It always reminded me of Little House on the Prairie. At the time I did not realize that the series was actually based off of a set of books by Patricia MacLachlan. 

While reading the first book with the same name as the television series, my memory was refreshed that it was about a woman from Maine answering a newspaper ad for a wife and mother. The kids anxiously await Sarah's arrival, and once she is there, they are preoccupied, wondering if she will stay or if she will miss the sea and her family too much and end up returning.

I once again made comparisons to the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I thought about how the MacLachlan books are quick, relatively easy reads, ideal for a transitional reader. However, it would be ideal if the readers had some background about the time period so that they could better understand the book. That made me think about how it would be an excellent opportunity to pair up with a read aloud of a Laura Ingalls Wilder book. The read aloud would build background information to better enjoy reading MacLachlan's text independently. Another option that I could see as be for a parent to read aloud an Ingalls Wilder book to the child and to have the child read aloud the MacLachlan book. That way, both books would be a shared experience, discussing similarities and differences. I like that if the child is motivated by either of the books, there are more available from both of the authors.