On a farm in the middle of the prairie, ten-year-old Sylvie struggles to understand why her mother gave up singing on stage while she sets off on an adventure of her own as the town reporter.

A prairie wedding and then a funeral bring together extended family and friends in the fifth and final volume in the historical fiction series that started with the exquisite Newbery Medal Book Sarah Plain and Tall (1985). Once again, heartwarming is the word for the story, which is always true to a child's viewpoint. The narrator here is Sarah's daughter, Cassie, a fourth-grader in the prairie school of six pupils, and the core drama is the close,...