A sweet, short story about two children, Caleb and Anna who've lost their mother, so their dad sends for a mail-order bride. A woman named Sarah answers. She is from Maine and loves the sea. She is plain and tall. The children are excited to meet Sarah, and hope she will be their new mother; that she will sing like their mother used to, and also because Papa doesn't sing anymore, not since their mother died. But the children are worried that Sarah won't stay, because they live on the Wyoming prairie, where there is no sea, and their house is too small and Caleb is too noisy.

It's really about the simple pleasures in life and the warm affection between Sarah and her new family. The prose is simple (it's a children's book), yet moving and profound, and equally enjoyable for adults.

The book is based on a true story of an ancestor in the author's family tree. When I was in first grade, Patricia MacLachlan came to my school and talked to us about her book. I thought it was cool that a famous author grew up in the same town as I did, but I was disappointed when she was autographing her books and I didn't so much as have a piece of scratch paper for her to sign. I later begged my mom to buy me the book, since I hadn't even read it yet. I still have that (unsigned *sigh* copy).