An Amish Year

An Amish Year, written by Richard Ammon and illustrated by Pamela Patrick, is a beautifully written and illustrated informational book. In the voice of a young Amish girl named Anna, the book covers a year in the life of an Amish family. It starts out in the spring, where Anna and her family celebrate Easter and do spring cleaning. In the summer, they make hay and then eat ice cream. In the fall, Anna talks about people getting married and the Thanksgiving feast. In winter, they celebrate Christmas and exchange gifts. I learned some interesting things over the course of Anna’s family’s year. For example, the Amish only go to church every other week. The weeks in between are spent reading quietly.

My family stopped in the region of Pennsylvania one year on the way home from a vacation somewhere in that area. I remember being so intrigued by the Amish farmhouses. When I first saw them, I couldn’t understand why some of the houses had clotheslines with clothes that were almost all the same color, while other houses did not. I didn’t realize for a little while longer that some of the houses were owned by Amish families while others were not. There were children outside doing chores, and the girls I saw remind me of the girl telling this story about her life.

The pictures on the pages opposite the text look like photographs; it’s almost as if Anna’s story goes with a photo album or scrapbook. The pictures illustrate snapshots of the scenes and activities Anna is describing. They are beautiful, yet simple pictures, which seems to echo the simple life of the Amish. The text is bordered with what looks like a quilt pattern. This gives the reader a sense of the Amish’s handiwork and brings a little more of the Amish culture into the story. It’s pretty too!

I like that the text included some words and phrases in the German dialect that the Amish speak along with English translations. For example, the girl is describing the horses and talks about the one who pulls their “Doch Waggle (buggy)”. I always enjoy reading things written in their true dialect or that include little bits of it in their dialogue.

The Author’s Note at the end of the book is extremely helpful. It tells the history of the Amish and how they came to live in Pennsylvania. It also points out why they have some of the traditions that they have, like men having long beards and not using zippers or buckles. It seems to give a rationale for why the Amish do things in the ways that they do them; for example, everyone addresses everyone else by their first names because they believe that everyone

The book seems to really point out the similarities and differences between the Amish and the “English”, as they call their non-Amish neighbors. This is a similar premise as the book I just read on love and marriage around the world, which encourages the reader to find similarities and differences between the different cultures as well. Anna talks about some things her family doesn’t do that “English” families generally do do; for example, her family doesn’t have a Christmas tree and Santa Claus doesn’t visit her house. However, she plays volleyball in the summer on her birthday with her family. I can remember playing outside when I was younger with my cousins whenever we would all gather for someone’s birthday, just like Anna’s family does in the book.

This is a really great book to use to teach kids about the Amish. It presents a year in the life of one family so that young readers can compare their lives to that of the Amish, and is an easy read. I definitely recommend this for teachers as well as for families to read with their children!