In Sarah, Plain and Tall, the Wittings are desperately looking for someone to fill a hole in their family—and they're hoping that a woman named Sarah Wheaton will be the one to make them complete. Jacob Witting has placed an ad for a mail order bride, and his children, Anna and Caleb, look forward to the presence of a mother figure in their lives. So when Sarah, a woman who responds to Jacob's ad, agrees to come for a visit to see how she likes life with the Wittings, everyone is nervous and deeply invested. After all, there's nothing more serious than the task of building a family, and that's exactly what the Wittings and Sarah are trying to do.
Questions About Family
- Do you think Anna and Caleb both miss their birth mother? Are there any differences in their feelings about their birth mom? If so, how does this affect them?
- Why hasn't Jacob remarried before now?
- How does Sarah fit into the Witting family? Give examples from the book to support your answer.
- Do you think Anna and Caleb see Sarah as a mother? Why or why not?
Chew on This
Although Caleb's never known what it's like to have a mother, he still feels that absence in his life and wants his father to remarry again.
Sarah comes to visit the Witting family as a complete stranger, but by the end of the book she's an integral part of the family.