Hello! I am Sara, and I have been a lover of good and great books since my earliest years, largely because of the incredible example my grandfather set for me. As a bookworm introvert, my love for the classics was augmented by my study of Philosophy, Religion, and English at Hillsdale College and the University of Oxford. As a revert to the Catholic Church, I have found G. K. Chesterton, J. R. R. Tolkien, Edith Stein, and Flannery O’Connor to be some of the great influences on my intellectual and religious formation.
I have the privilege of being the wife of Greg and the mama of Michael, Margaret (Greta), and John Patrick (Jack). Our little family lives in the woods of North East Wisconsin in a home dedicated to hospitality, libraries, and fellowship. We have three hobbit-sized dogs, Samwise Smalls, Heather Rose, and Cedar (Mistmantle Chronicles). Oh yeah, and we have a cat named Mowgli, plus all kinds of fish that somehow have survived the cat…. And, yes, all of the fish have literary names as well. Our home is affectionately called The Prancing Pony by our friends.
I write at Plumfield Moms, where we work to help moms embrace their vocations of marriage, motherhood, reading, education, and library building with confidence and joy. I am a co-founder of The Card Catalog, an online community dedicated to serving private living books lending librarians as they build and maintain their libraries. And, I am also the co-host of the Plumfield Moms podcast. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and in the free Plumfield Reads corner of the Biblioguides Online Community.
And, in addition to the beautiful work I get to do online, my children and I do some of our best work in our passion project: The Plumfield Living Books Lending Library in North East Wisconsin. Learn more, here. I have been invited to speak about libraries, reading as mother culture, and book clubs at homeschool conferences, in classical schools, and in connection to my library outreach.
You can email me at: sara@saramasarik.com
My Current Talks:
Great Books: The Ambassador for Beauty
If we want goodness and truth, we must seek beauty. We can know what beauty is because tradition tells us so. In this talk, we explore how books are ambassadors for beauty and we celebrate how our children are deserving and worthy of beautiful literature. In fact, they are not only worthy, but they are capable of appreciating that beauty.
A recording of this talk (along with accompanying resources) is available for purchase here:
Your Reading Life: Reading As Mother Culture
As mothers, our lives are often packed to the gills with commitments, obligations, chores, and tasks that all need doing. How often do we feel like too little butter spread across too much toast? And, this life of being pulled in so many directions can also feel so very lonely. Making time for things that fill us up can feel impossible. But, like Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, much good can be accomplished with a good friend and a simple plan. The Holy Spirit can speak encouragement, love, and inspiration into our hearts when we read. When we read with a friend, the learning and the joy is more than doubled. Join us for a conversation about how to easily and simply build a beautiful and life giving self-care routine into your life that may do more good than you can imagine!
Building Teen Book Clubs
Book clubs are a wonderful way to foster teen fellowship and encourage meaningful growth. For years, Sara has led teen book clubs with boys and girls giving them what she would have loved as a teen: book clubs that are as much about the club as they are about the book. Keeping the focus on relationship and letting the book be the vernacular, Sara’s teen book clubs have been a place of joy and friendship for dozens of teens in her community. Join her as we talk about how to bless you community with teen book clubs.
Building A Home Library
As homeschoolers, we know something about books. We buy, borrow, trade, and shelve more books in a year than some families do in a decade. Books are kind of our thing. But, what do we do with these books when we are done with them? How do we know which books to keep and which to move on? What can we do with these books when we aren’t using them? How can we turn these books into an act of stewardship? Whether you are new a mama with little ones and most of the books in your home are picture books or you are a seasoned mom with some or many already launched in the world, this talk could be for you! The business of building a solid home library can be an act of Godly stewardship.