Author’s Study Project

1. Author’s Study Project My author: Patricia MacLachlan

2. First Book:White Fur Flying White Fur Flying is a book about a new family that just moved in next door. There is only one problem…….The little boy won’t talk! As he grows to be comfortable with his surroundings and learns how to love again, will this little boy come out of his shell…….Or will he never forget what happened?!

3. Second Book: Sarah, Plain and Tall Sarah, Plain and Tall is a book about a dad who is desperately looking for a wife after a tragic death of his other wife. But finally when someone comes to Papa wanting a husband, Papa will have to make tough decisions between love and family, or will that end up being the same thing!!!

4. Third Book: Skylark Skylark is a book about a family of four who live in the prairie. Everything seems to be going good up until a spring when all the snow is just melting and it becomes warmer. But as Spring becomes Summer there is no rain…….none. The prairie becomes dry and the wells are filled with nothing. As the days get hotter and fires start roaming the prairie will this family stick together or will they fall apart!!!!!

5. Get to know the books! White Fur Flying: • Publishing Date: • March 19, 2013 Sarah Plain and Tall: • Publishing Date: • April 1985 Skylark: • Publishing Date: • 1994

6. All about the author: Birthdate: March 3, 1938 Location: Cheyenne, WY Awards Won: John Newbery Medal and Golden Kite Award for Fiction Interesting facts: Coauthored with her daughter, Emily in other books. She attended the University of Connecticut. Published her first novel at the age of 42 Important details about life: She was an only child and lived with her mom and dad as well as her imaginary friend Mary

7. Writing Style: My Author always wrote about a prairie for the setting. The person telling the story was always the young girl. The author always left off the chapter with a cliffhanger so the reader would always want to keep reading to see what happens next!

8. Issues and Themes A universal issue in the books would be weather because in Skylark it would not rain at all which caused other problems in the future. Also in White Fur Flying when Jack and Philip went missing it was raining which made it even harder to search for them A universal theme in the books would be to never give up on your hopes because in Skylark Anna and Caleb gave up on believing Papa would ever come back but he did. Also in Sarah Plain and Tall Pappa gave up on the idea on getting a wife but he ended up getting one.

9. Types of Characters- Depressed Ex; In the book, Sarah Plain and Tall, Papa is depressed when he can’t find a wife Brave Ex; In the book, White Fur Flying, Anna is brave when she goes outside in the pitch black to go help look for Philip and Jack

10. My Opinion One of the reasons I really liked Patricia MacLachlans books is because of what she said and used to describe things. For example when the author described the setting in every book you could tell how much she truly loved the land, the view and just everything about it. One of the reasons I did not like her books is because at times it got a little boring and nothing really exciting would happen for a long period of time. When that would happen I would just become very uninterested in the book and would not get me motivated to keep reading the book.

11. Recommendation.... I would recommend this author because she writes about real life scenarios and things that lots of people could relate to. I would recommend this author to readers who like calm books but still packed with action! I would also recommend this author to readers who like books that they can relate to because Patricia does a fantastic job of doing that!

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