Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

1986 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Adult Themes:  Anna and Caleb must deal with the loss of their mother, who died the day after Caleb’s birth.  They must also weigh the chances of having Sarah, who has come to stay with them for a “trial period” of one month, return to Maine rather than stay with them, marry their father, and become their new mother.  The theme of love, loss, acceptance, and change is the thread that runs through this story.  All of it is gently told from the perspective of Anna, and the book would be appropriate to read to any age.

Synopsis

Anna and Caleb live with their father, Jacob, on a farm in the Great Plains during pioneer times.  Their mother passed away at Caleb’s birth.  Several years have passed.  Papa doesn’t sing anymore and the home is too quiet.  One day, Papa tells the children he has placed an advertisement in the paper looking for a mail-order bride and a Miss Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton from Maine, self-described as “plain and tall”, has replied to say she and her cat will come stay with the family for a trial period of one month to see how things work.  Anna and Caleb are thrilled at the prospect of having a new mother, but their excitement must be tempered because they are too afraid to hope for the best.  When Sarah arrives, she is kind and gentle.  She sings, braids Anna’s hair, draws pictures for Caleb, and cooks stew.  She has never touched a lamb before, or seen a field of wheat.  She describes for them the colors of the sea, the seagulls, the seals, the wind, and her home in Maine; it is all too apparent to Anna that she misses her home too much to stay with them on the plains.  One day Sarah asks Papa to teach her how to drive the wagon so she can go into town by herself.  Anna and Caleb wait nervously all day, too afraid she won’t return.  Caleb cries that he is “too loud and pesky” for her and their house is too small.  But at the day’s end, in a cloud of dust on the horizon, the wagon returns with Sarah, who brings with her three pencils the colors of the sea:  blue, green, and gray.  She misses the sea, she says, “but the truth of it is I would miss you more.”

This is a simply told yet beautifully written book, short enough to read in an hour or two, and too good to miss.  It was based on a true event in the author’s family history.  A tender story about the yearnings of a lonely father and his children for someone to make their family complete.

©2010 The Literate Mother