Penelope Payne's Reviews > Plain Girl

Loved this book. :) There were a few parts that gave me pause because of the questionable theology, but overall, I enjoyed learning about the Amish ways. :)

Esther's father is forced to send Esther to a school, and she is the only Plain Girl there. She isn't supposed to even look at the other students. Do her schoolwork and leave. But they are also taught to be nice and polite, so when another student is nice to her, she doesn't feel it would be right to ignore the girl.

She worries that talking to the girl, writing letters to the girl, playing at recess with the girl, becoming best friends with the girl, might all be the First Step Away. She would have to make a choice - stay with the Amish, or go Away, as her brother had done before her.



I found two things quite interesting, so I had to research to see if it was true.
1. Amish make ice cream. I wondered how it was done, and they use ice when it gets freezing outside and make it in the winter. Brrrrr. :)
2. Esther drew Santa and stars and Christmas trees at school. I wondered how she felt about that. How her family would have felt about that. They don't celebrate Christmas that way. Santa and anything extravagant isn't used. This wasn't really touched on, but I also see why - it was so close to the end of the book. It might have messed with the pacing of the book. It still would have been interesting to see addressed. :)