Skylark

The second book in the series that began with the Newbery Medal–winning Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan.

My mother, Sarah, doesn't love the prairie. She tries, but she can't help remembering what she knew first.

Sarah came to the prairie from Maine to marry Papa. But that summer, a drought turned the land dry and brown. Fires swept across the fields and coyotes came to the well in search of water. So Sarah took Anna and Caleb back east, where they would be safe. Papa stayed behind. He would not leave his land.

Maine was beautiful, but Anna missed home, and Papa. And as the weeks went by, she began to wonder what would happen if the rains never came. Would she and Caleb and Sarah and Papa ever be a family again?

When Sarah came to the prairie, Anna and her brother Caleb worried that she would not stay and be their new mother. But Sarah fell in love with Caleb and Anna, and with their father, Jacob. Together they became a family. Jacob is a man of the land but for Sarah, the prairie isn't yet her home. So when a drought threatens to devastate their way of life, Jacob must save the farm. But the children go back to the home Sarah knew first, Maine, where there is family and an ocean. But will they ever be a family again on the prairie?

“MacLachlan’s prose is as lyrical and graceful as ever. Packed with meaning and portent, each sentence shows the careful touch of a master.” - School Library Journal

“Stirring. Magnificent. Flawlessly crafted.” - Publishers Weekly

“As spare as the original, the book is suffused with joy and, ultimately, hope.” - The Horn Book

“Evocative.” - Kirkus Reviews