Great Authors of Children's Books by Britannica Educational Publishing

Author:Britannica Educational Publishing
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-62275-097-9
Publisher: Britannica Educational Publishing
Published: 2014-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

PATRICIA MACLACHLAN

(b. 1938– )

Patricia MacLachlan was the author of several critically acclaimed children’s picture books and novels for preadolescents. She was best known for Sarah, Plain and Tall, which won the 1986 Newbery Medal.

MacLachlan was born on March 3, 1938, in Cheyenne, Wyo. After receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut in 1962, she worked as a junior high school English teacher. Her first published book, The Sick Day, appeared in 1979. Through Grandpa’s Eyes and Moon, Stars, Frogs, and Friends followed in 1980.

MacLachlan’s fiction tends to be realistic. Plots often revolve around children and their relationships with members of their immediate and extended families. Arthur, for the Very First Time, which the Society of Children’s Book Writers honored with a Golden Kite Award in 1980, focuses on a boy spending the summer with his great-aunt and great-uncle while his mother is pregnant. In Cassie Binegar (1982), the main character laments her family’s unconventional behavior, while the protagonist of Unclaimed Treasures (1984) struggles with the conventionality of her own family. Mama One, Mama Two (1982), the story of a young girl placed in foster care, was inspired by the author’s extensive involvement with a family service agency.

Sarah, Plain and Tall (1985; television film, 1991) was recognized by the New York Times, School Library Journal, and others as one of the best children’s books of the year. The novel tells the story of a pioneer man with two children who places an ad for a wife. A woman from Maine comes to their prairie home, but the children fear she may leave them to return to the East. A sequel, Skylark, was published in 1985 and made into a television film that aired in 1993.

Among MacLachlan’s other books are Seven Kisses in a Row (1983), The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt (1988), and Journey (1991). Recent works include, from the Sarah, Plain and Tall series, More Perfect than the Moon (2004) and Grandfather’s Dance (2006), as well as Edward’s Eyes (2007) and True Gift: A Christmas Story (2009). The author has conducted creative writing workshops for both children and adults and served as a visiting lecturer at Smith College.

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