Lynn H. Blackburn

A Big Year for Lily by Mary Ann Kinsinger and Suzanne Woods Fisher is the third book in the Adventures of Lily Lapp series. My friend Emily reviewed the first two, so this was the first time I’ve read one of the books in this series. 

I must say, it was delightful.

In book three, Lily experiences the joys of attending school with her cousins, the trauma of being falsely accused, the drama of the teacher getting married, the frustration of being picked on by a boy at school, and numerous other trials and delights that she sometimes handles well, and other times, finds herself learning some hard lessons. There are many insights into Amish culture that I think young girls (and their mothers!) would find fascinating!

I’m sure my perspective is different than that of an 8-10 year old girl, but I appreciated that Lily’s parents are a team, that they do not condone misbehavior, and that they accept their little girl for who she is. Their discipline is measured and appropriate, sprinkled with grace and mercy, and it is clear that they adore their children, are hard workers, and are still quite smitten with each other. In a world where so many children’s stories either act as if the parents are non-entities, or worse, act as if they are idiots, I found Lily’s parents to be a breath of fresh air.

These books are written for girls 8 and up, but I think they would make an excellent read-aloud for girls as young as 5 or 6. Some of the chapters are quite short (2-5 pages) and while the story does build and progress, each chapter is its own vignette and stands alone quite nicely. I could see this being a lovely choice for bedtime or afternoon story time reading. 

A Big Year for Lily is available in July 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

The super fine print: I was provided a copy of this book by Revell in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.