Sarah, Plain and Tall

"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? When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay.

1986 Newbery Medal Winner

1986 Christopher Award

1986 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for Children

1986 Golden Kite Award for Fiction (SCBW)

Notable Children's Book of 1985 (ALA)

1985 Children's Editors' Choices (BL)

Best Books of 1985 (SLJ)

Children's Choices for 1986 (IRA/CBC)

Outstanding Children's Books of 1985 (N.Y. Times Book Review)

International Board of Books for Young People Honor List for Writing, 1988

1986 Notable Trade Book in the Language Arts (NCTE)

1986 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)

1985 Books for Children (Library of Congress)

1988 Garden State Children's Book Award (New Jersey)

1988 Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award (Arkansas)

100 Favorite Paperbacks 1989 (IRA/CBC)

Best of the 80's (BL)

1986 Christopher Award

1986 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for Children

1986 Golden Kite Award for Fiction (SCBW)

Notable Children's Books of 1985 (ALA)

1985 Children's Editors' Choices (BL)

Best Books of 1985 (SLJ)

Children's Choices for 1986 (IRA/CBC)

Outstanding Children's Books of 1985 (NYTBR)

1986 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)

1985 Children's Books (Library of Congress)

1988 Garden State Children's Book Award (New Jersey Library Association)

1988 Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award (Arkansas)

100 Favorite Paperbacks of 1989 (IRA/CBC)

Best of the '80s (BL)

1986 Notable Children's Trade Books in the Language Arts (NCTE)

1988 Choices (Association of Booksellers for Children)

1988 International Borad of Books for Young People Honor List for Writing

1986 Jefferson Cup Award (Virginia Library Association)