Rachel: New Edition

by Mary Christner Borntrager

Book Overview

Rachel Miller's parents are Mennonite missionaries who left the Amish church before Rachel was born. Now Rachel wants to become Amish. She likes their quiet, unhurried way of life, and when she spends summers and goes to church with her Amish grandparents, Ellie and David Eash, she feels like she belongs. When she starts to attend Amish youth singings and begins to court a young Amish man, she realizes that she will have to choose. Should Rachel listen to her siblings and friends, who make fun of her and think she should drop her dream of becoming Amish once and for all? Or should she follow her desire to become Amish, which is starting to feel a lot like God's will? Ages 10 and up.

Book 3 of the Ellie's People: An Amish Family Saga series. Ages 10 and up.

The ten books of the Ellie's People series, beloved classics among young and old readers in Amish and Mennonite communities, are now available for today's reader. Author Mary Christner Borntrager grew up Amish and based her novels on events in her Amish childhood. Fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie series will love learning to know spunky Ellie and her friends and family.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0836135393
• ISBN13: 9780836135398
• Release Date: January 2015
• Publisher: Herald Press (VA)
• Length: 190 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

A good, simple introduction to Amish culture for children

RACHEL is a well written book that not only continues the Ellie's People series, but also stands well on its own. With language easy to understand by my 3rd grade daughter, it draws the reader into the simpler lifestyle of the Plain People, and explains some of the differences that set them apart without getting overly technical on the theological doctrines involved. This is a definitely "Christian" book, that doesn't hide the faith of the characters behind politically correct labels. Rachel is a likeable character, and her interest in her grandparent's lives, culture and religion is logically developed. Rachel is a "good girl" without being saccharine, and is written as facing the turning points in her life in a realistic as well as idealistic fashion. While there are events in the story that are sometimes sad, the author does not dwell morbidly on the unhappy details, preferring to show the positive lessons to be learned from them. As an adult conversant with the Amish culture, I enjoyed reading Rachel's story as well.