Homespun Amish and Mennonite women in their own words

Craker (Money Secrets of the Amish), who considers herself "just a simple Mennonite girl from the prairies," gathers essays by Mennonite and Amish women into a revealing and wide-ranging resource. Through her introductions to each section and essays themselves, Craker and the contributing authors describe a culture based on faith in Jesus and Scripture, and a life based on prudence, compassion, and community. The 36 essays are divided into six sections, with a welcome note opening the book because Craker states that "a deep sense of hospitality is fundamental to these women." Within each section, essays include plain and simple fare such as Rhoda Yoder's homage to her farmer father, humorous accounts such as Mary Troyer's musing on stretchy pants, and keenly poetic entries such as Sheila Petre's rumination on doubt, describing God's design for the "castle rooms of a columbine" as proof of his expansive power. Some are sermons: "Home is where our souls can rest," writes Delora Neuschwander, and Samantha Trenkamp preaches on rebuilding from "the shambles of shame." This eclectic book will interest any reader who's curious about the plain lifestyle. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

This simple collection is akin to an Amish or Mennonite patchwork quilt-bright in some places, a little folksy or worn in others but full of a kind of homey Americana easily identified but often hard to quantify. Editor Craker (Money Secrets of the Amish) gathers insights, none longer than a few pages, from a variety of Amish and Mennonite women in order to dispel the image of them as "buggy whip bonnet wearing people." Many of these short pieces were previously published in Amish and Mennonite women's magazines. But pulled together in this way, Craker creates a virtual kitchen confidential, where daughters, wives, mothers and grandmothers relax and share their thoughts on in-law tensions, postpartum depression, inferiority, and jealousy, or even creating a spirit of hospitality despite one's financial or domestic circumstances. -Interwoven are biblical precepts that have helped these women along the way and are here offered as a word of encouragement to others. VERDICT This book presents a calming respite from a chaotic and overwrought world.-Sandra Collins, Byzantine Catholic -Seminary Lib., Pittsburgh © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.