MacLachlan, Patricia (1938-2022), was a popular American author of novels and picture books for children. Her stories are filled with sympathetic, eccentric characters and often deal with family relationships. Educators and critics have praised MacLachlan’s books for their humor, realism, and optimism and for their skill at portraying problems faced by children. Much of her fiction is autobiographical.
MacLachlan won the 1986 Newbery Medal for her historical novel Sarah, Plain and Tall (1985). The Newbery Medal is an annual award to the author of the best children’s book written by an American. The story is set in the late 1800’s. The central character is Sarah, based on a distant relative of the author. The woman, living in Maine, answers a newspaper advertisement from a lonely widower living on the Kansas prairie. She visits the man and his two children, Anna and Caleb, to see if she wants to stay and become the children’s stepmother. The children fear that Sarah will leave them to return to her beloved Maine. MacLachlan continued the story of Sarah and the family in Skylark (1994), Caleb’s Story (2001), More Perfect Than the Moon (2004), and Grandfather’s Dance (2006).
Patricia Marie Pritzkau was born on March 3, 1938, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1962 and married Robert MacLachlan, a clinical psychologist, that same year. MacLachlan did not begin her writing career until 1979, with the publication of the picture book The Sick Day. Her other picture books include Through Grandpa’s Eyes (1980); Mama One, Mama Two (1982); Three Names (1991); What You Know First (1995); Who Loves Me? (2005); Your Moon, My Moon and Lala Salama: A Tanzanian Lullaby (both 2011); Nora’s Chicks and You Were the First (both 2013); The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse (2014); The Moon’s Almost Here (2016); and My Friend Earth (2020). MacLachlan grew up on the prairie lands of eastern Wyoming in the 1940’s, and she describes a day on a prairie farm in Prairie Days (2020).
MacLachlan’s first novel was Arthur, For the Very First Time (1980). Her other novels include The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt (1988), Journey (1991), Edward’s Eyes (2007), Word After Word After Word (2010), Waiting for the Magic (2011), and Kindred Souls (2012). The Boxcar Children Beginning (2012) describes the early history of the characters in Gertrude Chandler Warner’s popular children’s series “The Boxcar Children.” MacLachlan also wrote White Fur Flying and The Truth of Me (both 2013), Fly Away (2014), The Poet’s Dog (2016), and Dream Within a Dream (2019).
MacLachlan collaborated with her daughter, Emily MacLachlan Charest, on several children’s books, including Painting the Wind (2003), Bittle (2004), Fiona Loves the Night (2007), Once I Ate a Pie and I Didn’t Do It (both 2010), Before You Came (2011), and Cat Talk (2013). Patricia MacLachlan died on March 31, 2022. Later that year, her novel My Life Begins! was published. The book relates how 9-year-old Jacob decides to study his triplet baby sisters for a school research project and ends up discovering a new role for himself as a big brother. In late 2022, MacLachlan’s picture books My Poet, illustrated by Jen Hill, and Snow Horses, illustrated by Micha Archer, were also published.
