Mother Teresa's Alms Bowl

Ten-year-old Digby Platt was anxious to go to the Knicknack Market on the weekends. He was especially interested in buying things at Mr. Rummage's stall. There were things at the market that were "waiting for the right customer to come along." Digby loved his stuff because Mr. Rummage always had an interesting story to tell about them (maybe a tall tale!). Hannah, his sister, had her doubts about his precious finds. This weekend there was an interesting bowl that Saffron, another dealer, said was an old "Indian alms bowl." Of course Mr. Rummage said it belonged to Mother Teresa, or Agnes Bojaxhiu as she was known as a child. He began by talking about her family life when she was a child. Her father was a well-to-do merchant and their family was Roman Catholic and very happy. Once a year they "made a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Madonna of Letnice" in Montenegro, hoping that Agnes would become stronger and well. When her father died the family was shattered. Later, in 1928, Agnes left home to join the Loreto Abbey "near Dublin in Ireland." She never saw her family again. She later accepted the name "Teresa," after St. Teresa of Lisieux. Just before she turned twenty-one, she took her vows. There was "no going back to her former life." This book talks about her teaching job, her "call within a call" when she left the order to "live among the poorest of the poor," the history of India, the institutions she founded, the Missionaries of Charity, her work with the lepers and her lifetime struggle to help the poor until her death at age eighty-seven in 1997. This was a very interesting approach to a biography. Part of the story, involving the fictional characters Digby, Hannah, Mr. Rummage and Saffron, is told in narrative form while the other biographical information about Mother Teresa is told in historical sidebars. At first I was uncertain that this method or style would be appealing, let alone entice me to read on, but the more I read, the easier and more interesting it became. This book will not only interest the serious reader who needs material for a school report, but also the reluctant one who will find it easy to read to the end. The story division is such that I found it easy to stop and read the sidebar materials. This is one of several in the series of "Stories of Great People." This is an easy, interesting and enjoyable way to look at historical figures!