Sarah, Plain & Tall, and Skylark, both by Patricia MacLachlan

[sophia_sol]

These two books are easy-reader chapter books, very short with big print and simpler sentences. But they manage to do a fair amount in the space they have. They're historical fiction, set in the American west in the late 19th century, featuring a family where the mother died in childbirth and the father then gets a mail-order bride from out east.

Told from the perspective of one of the children in the family, these books are dealing with some pretty big themes, in an accessible way. I think they're really good at specifically being children's books, tbh, which not all kids books are. Sometimes kids books are written to what adults think kids want, and sometimes kids books are written to the taste of the adults buying the books for kids, instead of being really being for kids.

But I remember when I was a small child myself I loved these books. Rereading them as an adult, they're pretty spare and a little boring. But when I was young I found them to be full of emotion and a sense of place. I found them deeply satisfying.

Apparently these are just the first two of a five-book series, but the remaining three were published after I was out of the right age bracket for these books, and so I never read them. Too bad, because I bet I would have loved them if they'd existed when I was young enough, and would find them a bit boring if I were to seek them out now!

Comments

[tei]

Ahhh, I remember Sarah, Plain and Tall! Er, not very well, but I definitely read it. Pretty sure only that one though, I had no idea there were more!

[sophia_sol]

Yeah, the first one was a Newbery Award winner so it's the most well known of the bunch, I think. I'm guessing a lot of North American kids of our generation read it at some point!

[chestnut_pod]

Oh, I do remember Sarah, Plain and Tall! And I actually remember the sense of place you describe… now I think of it, I remember descriptions of how the prairie was like the sea, and the warmth and coziness of the barn.

[sophia_sol]

Yes! sense of place was really well done, and you're remembering it right :)