I love to hear authors speak about their books. This March, Patricia MacLachlan is coming to Central Library as part of the Evansville Area Reading Council Young Authors Program. She is the 1986 Newbery Award winner (best American children's novel as selected by American Library Association) for Sarah, Plain and Tall. I heard her speak several years ago at Butler University and really enjoyed her talk. While traveling to a speaking engagement one time she was to be met at an airport by someone she did not know, but she headed straight to the right person --he was holding a sign that said, "Jeremy, Small and Short." In at least one of her books she has a character saving a handfull of dirt from a place important to them. This is something she does herself. I fully expect her upcoming presentation to be equally entertaining.
Patricia MacLachlan has written several books before Sarah and a large number afterwards, including a continuation of the adventures of Anna and Caleb and their family. Some of them are available on DVD, including Sarah Plain and Tall starring Glenn Close. When I heard her speak, she was trying to prevent her Sarah family from being made into a tv series the way Little House on the Prairie was, on the theory that it went on and on far too long and lost track of the original idea. It will be interesting to see if she has comments on the media that has been made from her works.
To see the books in EVPL by Patricia MacLachlan, click here.
So many of her books are so good! I really like Sarah, of course, and Through Edward's Eyes, a much more contemporary story. What's your favorite?