Mennonite Valley Girl

Mennonite Valley Girl

Author: Carla Funk

Publisher: Greystone Books Ltd

Published: 2021-09-14

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 1771645164

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“In luminous prose that effortlessly portrays the intimate and familiar pangs of growing up, Funk captivates from the get-go, and the ’80s nostalgia will hit the spot for those who came of age amid skyscraper bangs, acid-washed jeans, and the ubiquity of teen heartthrob Kirk Cameron. These small-town stories are big on charm.” —Publishers Weekly A funny and whip-smart memoir about a feisty young woman’s quest for independence in an isolated Mennonite community. Carla Funk is a teenager with her hands on the church piano keys and her feet edging ever closer to the flames. Coming of age in a remote and forested valley—a place rich in Mennonites, loggers, and dutiful wives who submit to their husbands—she knows her destiny is to marry, have babies, and join the church ladies’ sewing circle. But she feels an increasing urge to push the limits of her religion and the small town that cannot contain her desires for much longer. Teenage (Mennonite) angst at its finest: Carla questions the patriarchal norms of Mennonite society and yearns to break free. She’ll start by lighting her driveway on fire …. A family story: the perfect gift for mothers, daughters, sisters, and fathers and sons. Pitch-perfect 1980s nostalgia: remember Jordache jeans? For readers of Miriam Toews: heart wrenching and humorous descriptions of Mennonite life. At once a coming-of-age story, a contemplation on meaning, morality, and destiny, and a hilarious time capsule of 1980s adolescence, Mennonite Valley Girl offers the best kind of escapist reading for anyone who loves small towns, or who was lucky enough to grow up in one.


Paradise Valley (The Daughters of Caleb Bender Book #1)

Paradise Valley (The Daughters of Caleb Bender Book #1)

Author: Dale Cramer

Publisher: Bethany House

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 1441214089

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An Amish settlement in Ohio has run afoul of a law requiring their children to attend public school. Caleb Bender and his neighbors are arrested for neglect, with the state ordering the children be placed in an institution. Among them are Caleb's teenage daughter, Rachel, and the boy she has her eye on, Jake Weaver. Romance blooms between the two when Rachel helps Jake escape the children's home. Searching for a place to relocate his family where no such laws apply, Caleb learns there's inexpensive land for sale in Mexico, a place called Paradise Valley. Despite rumors of instability in the wake of the Mexican revolution, the Amish community decides this is their answer. And since it was Caleb's idea, he and his family will be the pioneers. They will send for the others once he's established a foothold and assessed the situation. Caleb's daughters are thrown into turmoil. Rachel doesn't want to leave Jake. Her sister, Emma, who has been courting Levi Mullet, fears her dreams of marriage will be dashed. Miriam has never had a beau and is acutely aware there will be no prospects in Mexico. Once there, they meet Domingo, a young man and guide who takes a liking to Miriam, something her father would never approve. While Paradise Valley is everything they'd hoped it would be, it isn't long before the bandits start giving them trouble, threatening to upset the fledgling Amish settlement, even putting their lives in danger. Thankfully no one has been harmed so far, anyway.


The Amish Nanny

The Amish Nanny

Author: Mindy Starns Clark

Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

Published: 2011-07-01

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 0736941606

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Bestselling author Mindy Starns Clark and coauthor Leslie Gould offer readers The Amish Nanny, Book 2 in the Women of Lancaster County series, which tells the stories of young Plain women as they explore their roots, connect with family, and discover true love. Amish-raised Ada Rupp knows it’s time to make a commitment to the faith and join the church, especially if she wants a future with the handsome Amish widower Will Gundy. But when she has the chance to travel to Switzerland as the caregiver of a young child, she leaps at the opportunity. Anxious to learn more about her forebears, Ada enlists the help of a young Mennonite scholar named Daniel, but even as she develops feelings for him, she cannot get Will from her mind—or her heart. At a crossroads, Ada must decide what she is willing to give up from the past in order to embrace her future.


Every Little Scrap and Wonder

Every Little Scrap and Wonder

Author: Carla Funk

Publisher: Greystone Books Ltd

Published: 2019-10-15

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1771644672

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From an award-winning essayist and acclaimed poet comes this radiant, observant, and warmly funny memoir about childhood, family, and small-town life. Carla Funk grew up in a place of logging trucks and God, pellet guns and parables. Every Sunday, she sat with her mother and brother in the same pew at the Mennonite church while her dad stayed home with his cigarettes and a fridge full of whiskey. In these tender, humorous stories, Funk stitches together the wondrous and the mundane: making snow angels and carrying sacks of potatoes, tossing pig bladders like footballs, and vying for the Christmas pageant spotlight. Part ode to childhood, part love letter to rural life, Every Little Scrap and Wonder offers an original take on the memories, stories, and traditions we all carry within ourselves, whether we planned to or not.


The Girl in a Coma

The Girl in a Coma

Author: John Moss

Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published: 2016-08-02

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1929345259

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Allison Briscoe is your average fifteen-year-old-until someone tries to kill her. Shot in the head, her doctors and family think she is in a coma, but in fact, though she cannot move, she can think, she can hear, and she can dream. Each night, Allison lives vicariously through her pioneer ancestors, experiencing their adventures through their eyes. First, she enters the world of Rebecca Haun, a fifteen-year-old rebel who lived in Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War. To prove a friend innocent of murder, Rebecca betrays her Mennonite beliefs and joins the Women's Brigade with George Washington's rag-tag army at Valley Forge. And each day, Allison struggles to find a way to show her family that she is awake—a goal that becomes increasingly desperate when she realizes that whoever shot her has come back to finish the job.


Apologetic

Apologetic

Author: Carla Funk

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 107

ISBN-13: 9780888013712

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Capturing microscopic moments in time and nature, Carla Funk’s poems bring the world to a momentary standstill. Funk translates vivid description and feeling into her poems, both testing and playing with traditional poetic form. Her writing reflects the natural world and tells the story of life’s experiences. Apologetic’s poems experiment with expressing thoughts and emotions in formal poetic traditions, confining words to metrical lines or rhyme schemes. Many deal with the natural world, moments in time spent outdoors, in gardens, and capturing fleeting impressions in the human experience. Playing with form and content, Funk evokes the idea of a flesh-and-bones body (the poetic structure) carrying a spiritual entity (the poem’s meaning). “Highway 16 Sonnet” uses the traditional sonnet form to capture a gruesome snapshot of roadkill as a harsh reality of travel on a Canadian highway. “Ring Around the Moon” describes in 5 verses of four lines each, the experience of taking out the garbage late at night and observing the beautiful night sky, something hallowed above the stench of waste.


Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

Author: Rhoda Janzen

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2009-10-13

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 080508925X

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In the spirit of Anne Lamott and Nora Ephron comes Janze's hilarious and moving memoir about a woman who returns home to her close-knit Mennonite family after a personal crisis.


SHAKEN IN THE WATER

SHAKEN IN THE WATER

Author: Jessica Dawn Penner

Publisher: Workplay Publishing

Published: 2017-01-03

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9780990554554

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Shaken in the Water unspools the troubled dynasty of a Mennonite matriarch named Agnes, who was born in 1903 with a portentous birthmark called in Low German the Tieja Kjoaw, or Tiger Scar.


More-with-Less Cookbook

More-with-Less Cookbook

Author: Doris Longacre

Publisher: MennoMedia, Inc.

Published: 2003-09-26

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13: 083619781X

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This is a new edition of Herald Press's all-time best-selling cookbook, helping thousands of families establish a climate of joy and concern for others at mealtime. The late author's introductory chapters have been edited and revised for today's cooks. Statistics and nutritional information have been updated to reflect current American and Canadian eating habits, health issues, and diet guidelines. The new U.S. food chart "My Plate" was slipped in at the last minute and placed alongside Canada's Food Guide. But the message has changed little from the one that Doris Janzen Longacre promoted in 1976, when the first edition of this cookbook was released. In many ways she was ahead of her time in advocating for people to eat more whole grains and more vegetables and fruits, with less meat, saturated fat, and sugars. This book is part of the World Community Cookbook series that is published in cooperation with Mennonite Central Committee, a worldwide ministry of relief, development, and peace. "Mennonites are widely recognized as good cooks. But Mennonites are also a people who care about the world’s hungry."—Doris Janzen Longacre


On the Rim of Wonder

On the Rim of Wonder

Author: Juliana Lightle

Publisher:

Published: 2014-04-08

Total Pages: 122

ISBN-13: 9781497471047

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Poet Juliana Lightle listens to the ancient tales of the earth as she carves a unique path through life, instills a sense of wonder, and evokes a deep appreciation of the world's wide open spaces and the creatures that inhabit it. This book will inspire you to look for your own rim of wonder and embrace the whole world of human emotions. It will open your eyes to the wild beauty that surrounds you.