Skip to main content

Mary Mae and the Gospel Truth



Mary Mae and the Gospel Truth
by Sandra Dutton
juvenile realistic fiction
134 pages
Boston : Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010

Mary Mae is ten-years-old and full of questions. The questions make her mother very uncomfortable as they challenge her interpretation of The Holy Bible. Many of her queries stem from her science class and what she is learning about fossils and the dinosaurs. In an attempt to stifle her curiosity the Pastor suggests that her Sunday School class perform a puppet show about the Creation. Mary Mae is happy to do this although it spawns even more questions for her. Mama is so determined that she stop learning about such things that supposedly conflict with her beliefs, that she pulls Mary Mae out of school with the intention of homeschooling. Thankfully Mary Mae has the support and listening-ear of her beloved great-grandmother with whom she shares a passion and talent for music. How long will Mama ignore the evidence in her very own backyard before she realizes that Mary Mae means no harm?
A sweet realistic novel showing a spirited yet confused young girl who refuses to just give in and conform to her parents beliefs. Mary Mae must develop her own faith in her world and God just as everyone should do.

Comments

Sandra Dutton said…
Dear Provo City Librarians,

Thank you for your lovely review. I'm so glad you enjoyed "Mary Mae and the Gospel Truth."

Sandra Dutton

Popular posts from this blog

Funny Farm by Mark Teague 2009

There are things I liked about Mark Teague's newest book, Funny Farm , and things I didn't like. Where should I start? I'll do the "didn'ts" first. The illustrations show animals personified. Well, some of the animals are. The main characters, Edward, and his farm family relatives, all dogs, are humanized. They stand upright, do farm chores, eat at a table, wear clothes, knit (yes, with paws) and sleep in beds. Most everybody else on and around the farm, who are also animals, act like animals. They are outside, roll in mud, live in the barn, and require care from their owners. It struck me the most on the page spread where there are pigs playing in puddle in the rain and Edward, a black and white boxer, watches from inside the house. I thought "You're a dog! Go play with them!" But, alas, he can't, seeing as how he goes through his entire visit to the farm wearing a suit and red bow tie. Another picture that bothered me was the maple syrup pa...

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester 2008

J Fiction 328 pages I almost didn't finish this book. I got to Chapter 4, and was just about ready to quit (a kind of slow story about a girl, name of Piper McCloud, who discovers she can fly, parents freak out, she becomes a social outcast, yadda, yadda) but suddenly, right there in Chapter 4, the story takes a sharp turn and becomes really interesting . Piper finds herself in the company of others like her, but not "fliers", and under the care and authority of Dr. Hellion. I won't even tell you any more. Read this book. Forester does a great job of keeping you wondering who's the good guy and who's the bad? Piper is a likeable, strong, endearing character that girl readers will enjoy. But don't NOT give it to boys! The main male character is an extremely intelligent young man who is one of the ones you wonder about . . . good or bad? This is a good one, well worth your time.

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...