A Stone's Throw from Paradise

Awesome book! I'd highly recommend A Stone's Throw from Paradise not only for thoughtful teachers to explore within their respective classroom but for parents,grandparents,step-in-parents to share in clearing pathway towards opening meaningful discussions within FAMILY CIRCLES. THIS book helps to clear pathway for building generational bridges among cultural groups in addition to healing cultural gaps on many levels.

Lizzie had the weight of the world on her little shoulders. A mother she knew little about, a stepmother who loved fake flowers instead of real ones, a gross baby brother, and a grandmother she thought was a saint. To escape her worries, Lizzie decides to spend the entire summer at Grandma Zook's farm in Paradise, Pennsylvania working at the Zook Nook to earn a little pocket money and hoping to find out more about her real mother. She finds a few other secrets she hadn't been looking for either. The rude awakening Lizzie got was that the Amish did things the old-fashioned way, getting up before the sun to do the farm chores and making the items for the Zook Nook. I got a good laugh when Lizze complained about the chicken stink in the coop and the organic sounds and smell of an impolite cow. I also laughed when she found out what scrapple was made of.But, life on the farm wasn't all that awful, Lizzie also found out the missing pie pieces to the mystery of her mother. She also realized that, even though the Amish tried to live perfect lives according to the Church Order, they were still human and fallible, even Grandma Zook. After six weeks with Grandma Zook, Lizzie didn't think her life was all that bad either. Now that she had been on the farm, things at home were like paradise.