Amish Living

I confess that I really do not know very much about the Amish way of life. Certainly I would do better to read some non-fiction work but for now I’m getting my feet wet with a piece of fiction. School’s Out is part of the Rachel Yoder series published by Barbour Books. If you are at all familiar with the Mandie series, by Louis Gladys Leppard, then you know what Rachel Yoder is like (except for being Amish). Rachel Yoder is a young girl around the age of 11 or 12 that lives in Pennsylvania. The series is set in the modern day to better contrast how the Amish live, which is much more simply than most Americans. However, just because they live more simply, doesn’t mean that they are so different from the rest of America in their desire to be happy and pursue great things. We just would approach things in a different manner. Rachel is presented as a typical young girl who wants to try new things like skateboarding, loves her pet animals (in this case a kitten and a horse) and fights with her brother. She is easy to identify with and fun to read about. I highly recommend this book series for young girls, especially those that are curious about the Amish way of life.

Wanda Brunstetter, author of the Rachel Yoder series for young girls, has written a variety of fictional works based in Amish Country. She is also put together a devotional book entitled A Simple Life which focuses on important life lessons that we can learn from these people. As Brunstetter says in the introduction, we might not all choose to live as simply as they do, but we can all have a peace in our hearts that helps and enables us to be at rest. She suggests that we can learn many valuable things from studying the Amish way of life and living and I do believe I agree with her. It is a unique devotional book and helps introduce the Amish culture to its reader as you read your way through it.

I’m curious to read more of Brunstetter’s works. If anyone else out there has, drop a note and let me know if there’s a particular title I should get my hands on! They all look fun so I’ll take a specific suggestion if you’ve got one!

Carrie comes by her book obsession honestly, having descended from a long line of bibliophiles. She blogs about books regularly at Reading to Know.