Grandfather's dance
(Book)

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, teasing bond between Cassie's little brother, Jack, and their stubborn, cranky grandfather, whose health is failing. For newcomers to the series, the large cast that gathers for the wedding may be hard to keep straight, but the plainspoken dialogue, especially between Grandfather and Jack, is elemental, and the warm, quiet story of love and grief will send readers back to the other books in the touching saga.

008-010.