Review: Life with Lily

Genres: Amish & Mennonite

Life with Lily by Mary Ann Kinsinger

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had been looking forward to reading this little story for some time. My daughters have gotten interested in the Amish and this story will be perfect to read for bedtime stories to the little ones and the older ones will enjoy reading it themselves. I got this book for them for Christmas and couldn’t resist reading it before I wrapped it up for them. At some point in the future I will update this review with their thoughts. This story is co-authored by Mary Ann Kinsinger and Suzanne Woods Fisher. Mary Ann Kinsinger was raised Old Order Amish and The Adventures of Lily Lapp series is a way for her to capture childhood memories of being raised Amish.

Lily Lapp is a sweet little Amish girl who is learning the joys and hardships of life such as dealing with a new baby brother, starting school and learning to make new friends. Lily lives on a small farm in upstate New York—she has a cranky English neighbor, a miniature horse, chickens, a dog and a horse named Jim that pulls the family’s buggy. Along the way we’ll see Lily learn that not all adults are nice and sometimes a trusted parent or adult should be told—this storyline will open dialogue about the difference in tattling and being honest about someone hurting you or your friends. Each chapter in this story is a short story about the different things going on in Lily’s life. There are stories about change, moving to a new home and also about choosing our friends wisely. There are a lot of laughs but also a lot of more serious lessons to be learned as well. I loved that about this little book. The children can read it on their own as a fun fictional story or an adult can read it with them to open up conversation about how we can apply Lily’s lessons to their own life.

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Coming February 2013!!!
A New Home for Lily-Lily Lapp is moving with her family to Pennsylvania to join a new Amish community. In this small town where changes–and newcomers–are greeted with suspicion, Lily must adjust to a new school, new friends, and Aaron Yoder, an annoying boy who teases her relentlessly. Still, there are exciting new developments, including an attic full of adventure and a new baby brother. But why, Lily wonders, can’t God bring her just one sister?

Mary Ann Kinsinger was raised Old Order Amish in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. She met and married her husband, whom she knew from school days and started a family. After they chose to leave the Amish church, Mary Ann began a blog, A Joyful Chaos, as a way to capture her warm memories of her childhood for her own children. From the start, this blog found a ready audience and even captured the attention of key media players, such as the influential blog AmishAmerica and the New York Times. She lives in Pennsylvania.

In no particular order, Suzanne Woods Fisher is a wife, mother, writer, lifelong student of the Bible, raiser of puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind, a gardener and a cook…the latter two with sporadic results.

Suzanne has loved to write since she was a young teen. After college, she started to write for magazines and became a contributing editor for Christian Parenting Today magazine. Her family moved to Hong Kong for four years, just as the internet was developing, and she continued to write articles in a 44-story high-rise apartment, sending manuscripts 7,000 miles away with a click of a key.

After returning from Hong Kong, Suzanne decided to give her first novel a try. For four and a half months, she worked on an antediluvian computer in a cramped laundry room. She didn’t even tell her husband what she was up to. When the novel was completed, she told her family at dinner one night that she had written a book. “That’s why there’s no food in this house!” said her slightly insensitive sons.

Undaunted…Suzanne found a small royalty publisher for that book and wrote three more (all earned multiple). With help from an agent, she has five books currently under contract with Revell. On September 1st, Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World, a non-fiction book of stories and examples about the Old Order Amish, will be released by Revell. The Choice, a novel about the Amish, will follow on January 1st.

Writing, for Suzanne, is a way to express a love of God and His word. With every book or article, she hopes readers get a sense of what faith really looks like in the daily grind. She hopes they realize that life can be hard, but God is good, and never to confuse the two.
Suzanne can be found on-line at: www.suzannewoodsfisher.com

The author has graciously provided me with bookmarks and post cards to share with my readers! I have (no) bookmarks and 7 postcards left. If you would like one please comment below with your preference of a bookmark or postcard and then contact me at apmamakristin@yahoo.com to let me know where I can mail them to you! Do not post your address in the comments below.

Posted By: Kristin Filed Under: Amish, Book Reviews, Children's Books, giveaways, reviews, Suzanne Woods Fisher, The Adventures of Lily Lapp