Sarah, Plain and Tall

Sarah, Plain and Tall is a tale set in the late 19th century. It is about a widowed midwestern farmer with two children, Anna and Caleb. The farmer advertises for a wife. When Sarah arrives she is homesick for Maine, especially for the ocean which she misses greatly. The children fear that she will not stay, and when she goes off to town alone, young Caleb, whose mother died during childbirth, is stricken with the fear that she has gone for good. But she returns with colored pencils to illustrate for them the beauty of Maine, and to explain that, though she misses her home, "the truth of it is I would miss you more." The tale gently explores themes of abandonment, loss and love.


Sarah, Plain and Tall is the story of widower, Jacob Witting, his children, Anna and Caleb, and their quest to fill the emptiness left by their wife and mother following her death. Jacob (Papa) put an ad in the paper asking for a wife. He received an answer from Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton, from Maine. After several letters of correspondence, Sarah decides to leave her home and visit the Wittings for a month. Were the Wittings a suitable family for her? Anna and Caleb wonder what Sarah will be like. Will she be nice? Will she like them? Will she stay? Sarah loves many things and describes herself as plain and tall.

In this webquest you will explore the prairie and Maine. The prairies were new to Sarah, the Wittings had never been to Maine. Through reading the book and the web sites listed you will align yourself with one of the characters and create a journal of what you think their thoughts feelings and reactions would be to the events of the story. You will also include various aspects of Maine and prairies that you will investigate via the web sites listed. You will develop a vocabulary list with the use of an on-line source, make predictions of coming events, create concise summaries of chapters, and discover character traits of Sarah, Jacob, Anna and Caleb.


The differences between Maine and the Midwestern part of the United States are many. Jacob, Sarah, Calab and Anna have found that even though there are differences in geography and in other ways people remain basically the same. In this project you have discovered differences in two United States Regions and you have been able to "visit" several things that Sarah described in the story. It has been said, "The best things are those yet to be discovered." Jacob, Sarah, Calab and Anna have discovered this in their lives. Have you discovered the "best things" in your life?

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