#620 Grandfather’s Dance by Patricia MacLachlan

Grandfather’s Dance by Patricia MacLachlan

Jack was a toddler now. Cassie had not wanted to love him, but she ultimately did. Things were changing around the farm. Anna was getting married and Caleb was grown up. Cassie was in charge of keeping up with writing the farm’s story. Jack just got into trouble, all the time, but he listened to grandfather.

The aunts from Maine came for Anna’s wedding. They enjoyed spending time with the family. Grandfather said they would be a handful, but he enjoyed their company. One evening, Grandfather yelled at Jack because he had been bad. He felt bad for it and went outside. There he did a little dance to say he was sorry to Jack.

Cassie realized that grandfather was old and might not see her wedding as he had Anna’s, so Grandfather decided to throw Cassie a wedding. She got married to her favorite dog on the farm. She wore a beautiful blue dress and her entire family was there. Grandfather danced with Cassie. There was just enough time for one last family photo.

What I liked

Grandfather’s hold a special place in my heart because my grandfather is very special to me. There is almost nothing he can’t do. He is a good person and has always took care of me and protected me when he could. He has always been there for me. I know how sad Cassie must have felt to feel like her grandfather might not be at her wedding. I’m glad her grandfather was able to share a silly moment with Cassie before he was gone.

What I didn’t like

It is quite sad that Grandfather did not get to see Cassie actually get married. My grandfather walked me down the aisle at my wedding, because he has really been like a father to me. I don’t know that I will ever get to have children in my life, I hope I do, but I hope that if it does happen my grandparents are still alive to see my children. It’s one of the worries of a child who loves their grandparents. Will they still be around to see how you turned out? You want to show them that they helped you turn out to be a good person and that your life turned out half-way decent. Sometimes it’s not possible to show them that.

Overall

Grandfather will be missed.

Weigh In

If there was one thing you could share with your deceased grandparents, what would it be?

Does having a milestone event of your life without a relative make the event sad, even if it’s a happy event?

#619 More Perfect Than the Moon by Patricia MacLachlan

More Perfect Than the Moon by Patricia MacLachlan

Caleb has passed the journals onto Cassie, his younger sister. Anna still works in town with the doctor. Papa and Mama seem the same, and grandfather is the same as ever. Cassie is better at writing than Caleb, but she’s been known to embellish the truth. She writes what she sees, with a little bit of added detail. The cows float into the barn, they don’t walk there.

Cassie starts to notice some things around the house. Her mother doesn’t feel well and Cassie is worried. No one will tell her what is wrong. It finally comes out that Mama is going to have another baby, but Cassie is worried because Mama says she is too old to be having babies. Cassie also doesn’t like the idea of having a younger sibling. She writes in her journal that Mama gives birth to a lamb named Beatrice and she tells Cassie that Cassie is her favorite.

As the pregnancy progresses, Cassie determines that she will not love the baby. She speaks to Anna and Caleb, who both say similar things about her. They didn’t want to love her when she is born, but they did anyway. When Mama went to the doctor Cassie wanted her to come back with a present “more perfect than the moon.” When the baby is finally born Cassie thinks it is “more perfect than the moon.”

What I liked

Look, I hear you sister–I have three younger brothers and if that’s not a disaster every time it happens, I don’t know what is. The first one was kind of novel. I had another kid to play with, but he was a holy terror, so playtime wasn’t always fun. He stabbed me in the chin with a freshly sharpened pencil and I had this awful hole there for a while. People asked me what happened to my chin and I told them the truth. My brother did it. The second brother was quite the disappointment because I wanted a sister. I remember crying about it. The third brother was yet another boy, of course, and by that time, I just flat-out got used to the idea of not having a sister.

So, Cassie, I understand.

I love Cassie’s embellishments on the truth.

What I didn’t like

Cassie seems awfully spoiled. She says she’s never going to love her younger sibling. Cassie, honey, I did this three times. Never once was I like, “I’m going to hate the baby.” Yeah, babies are noisy. Changing diapers isn’t a lot of fun. Yes, maybe your parents won’t pay a lot of attention to you after the baby is born, but babies also add a lot to a family. One does not go around saying they’re going to hate the baby when it’s born.

Overall

Who doesn’t love a baby?

Weigh In

If you have younger siblings, were you jealous of them when they were born?

Do you imagine that everything turned out alright with Cassie? What do you think she grows up to be?

#598 Skylark by Patricia MacLachlan

Skylark by Patricia MacLachlan

The ground is dry and the dust gets into everything. It hasn’t rained in so long Caleb and Anna can’t even quite remember what the rain sounds like. The crops are drying up and everyone has to be on constant watch for brush fires. Fires do happen. Things are burned. People leave because their wells dry up. Some of them will come back, but some of them never will. When the wells dry up, people haul water from the river; when the river dries up, people wonder where the water is going to come from.

After a particularly awful brush fire that destroys the barn, Sarah, Caleb, and Anna are sent away to Maine where they will stay with Sarah’s aunts until the rain comes back. Papa is going to stay to repair the barn and take care of the animals. Caleb and Anna enjoy the ocean. They enjoy the water which seems to come from nowhere, but they miss Papa. He’s there all by himself.

Papa is eventually able to send good news, that the rain has come, and everyone returns home, where Sarah learns to write her name in the land.

What I liked

I like Sarah and I also like the desperation painted in this book. It’s not a pleasant thing to think about, but children have been through some awful things with their families and books like this one introduce the idea of such disasters on a level a child can comprehend. Caleb and Anna don’t entirely understand, nor does the book expect the reader, who may be child-aged, to understand the full-effects of something as terrible as a drought to a farmer.

What I didn’t like

The story is great, but I would love to see a more grown-up version of this story. I would love to see this entire story from Sarah’s eye. I think there’s a lot more that could be spoken and pointed out from the view of an adult.

Overall

It would be nice to visit Maine.

Weigh In

What would you do if there was a drought? Would you stay? Would you go?

Do disasters, like droughts, affect us less or more considering our technological advancements?

#591 Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

Anna and Caleb want a new mother. Their mother is gone and they’ve been without one for a while. Their father has been writing to a woman in Maine. He took out an advertisement in the paper for a wife and Sarah answered. Sarah soon writes to both Anna and Caleb. Yes, she can sing.

Sarah will come to their farm in the waves of grain. She is plain and she is tall. She will be wearing a yellow bonnet. Sarah does arrive and she and her cat take readily to the farm, and to the family. She teaches Anna and Caleb to swim in the cow pond and, yes, she sings with the children.

The children worry that she will go away, but Sarah stays.

What I liked

I could not tell you how many times I have read this book. The opening paragraphs are so familiar to me. I’ve read the book over and over again and I’ve seen the movies. Yes, there are movies. This book is just a sweet little story about two kids who really wanted a mother and they got one.

What I didn’t like

This isn’t really a comment on Patricia’s book, but it’s more a comment on life–it amazes me that some kids end up with step-parents that are so great. I have a step-parent and while not an evil person, he’s hasn’t been the best father figure. Some people just aren’t down with parenting another person’s children. Something I admire about Sarah is that she marches right in there and takes up the position of mother, even when other women may not have.

Overall

I think I would have gotten along with Sarah.

Weigh In

Do you think Caleb and Anna lucked out in the step-parent department?

What would have happened to Caleb and Anna had Sarah not been so nice?