Plain Girl

    Right after finishing Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, I finished reading Plain Girl. Plain Girl is the story of a young Amish girl who, by law, is forced to go to a non-Amish public school. It's a fun story about the struggle against sin.
   
     This is around the same time period as Roll of Thunder. The story starts out with the main character, Esther, in the chicken coop. She overhears her father talking to some men who are telling him that, according to the law, she has to go to public school.
  
    Now Esther has a traditional family, mother, father, and brother, but her brother ran away to get a taste of the world. Her father always blamed the school for it. Putting ideas in his head, that kind of thing. Well, her father soon realizes that there is no way around this, so Esther goes to public school.
   
    As you probably know it's hard to go through school without making even one friend, yet that's exactly what Easter's father asked her to do. "You can look at the teacher, but there's no reason to look at the students," he said. But it didn't help, for soon she was friends with a girl named Mary.

    After a while the unthinkable happens. Her brother, Dan, comes home! He comes to see Esther and his lover, but doesn't think Father should know he's home just yet. So they make plans for him to come home on Christmas Eve. But in the midst of all their planning, Esther is thinking of something else. Mary had asked her to switch clothes with her. She asked Dan about it, and he tells her he'll think about it. When she gets back, Mary asks her for an answer.  Esther says yes. Now you have to remember that she's Amish and therefore she wares drab clothes because rich clothing is thought to bring them closer to Vanity. So if she had asked her father instead of  Dan, he probably would have panicked and thought that she was taking "the first step away." They end up not switching, because Mary's mother wouldn't let her wear the right dress.

    By this time we reach Christmas Eve dinner. There comes a knock at the door. Dan steps in and they have a big, happy family reunion.

    I give this book an 8 out if 100. It's a very "engrossing tale," just full to bursting with fun lively characters. It definitely captures the view of things from a ten year old's perspective. I really enjoyed this book. It has that old, home style charm to it. Though thrilling it is not, I think people of every and all ages will enjoy this book.