The Amish Teacher's Gift by Rachel J. Good

The Amish Teacher's Gift (Love and Promises)

by Rachel J. Good

Josiah Petersheim has lost his wife, and he's having difficulties communicating with his grieving deaf six-year-old son. He's grateful Nathan has Ada Rupp as his first-grade teacher. Impressed by her sweet nature, Josiah is stunned by Ada's ability to easily comfort his son. In fact, he finds himself charmed by everything about Ada.

With teaching and caring for her young siblings, Ada rebuffs Josiah's advances, insisting she has no time for a relationship. But she is intrigued by his sweet nature and his love for his son. And when Josiah starts finding creative ways to spend time with her, Ada can't help but fall for the caring single dad.

Reviewed by phyllish on

4 of 5 stars

Share
The Amish Teacher’s Gift by Rachel J. Good

My rating is 4.5 Stars


The subject of the special-needs school in The Amish Teacher’s Gift is one I’ve never read about in an Amish book, but it is one that interests me greatly. While in high school, I was blessed to be a helper in a program for developmentally delayed preschoolers for a few hours a day. I have such fond memories of those wonderful children that when I saw the synopsis of this book, I knew I had to read it.

So many thoughts are floating through my head about this book.

The fact that the story dealt with a special-needs Amish school fascinated me. I loved the way that 19-year-old Ada took the time to learn all she could to help her students. The Mennonite school was pretty amazing. The tools they had to help the kids, the multi-sensory environment, everything they had just made my heart happy.

Martha, the bishop’s daughter, had Down Syndrome, yet she was a tremendous asset in the classroom. How amazing the school board would have allowed that, or even thought of having her be the one to assist. What a brilliant idea! Having known several children and adults with that condition, I can see how it would be a great fit.

Several things in the book were just sad. One of them is this. With the Amish community known to be just that, a community, it was terrible that Ada, as young as she was, was solely responsible for her six younger siblings with apparently no support from anyone. Yes, I know. The children are raised so they all help out, but that is beside the point. Someone should have been looking out for them, coming alongside to help, even if just to give her short breaks. I like to think that if I knew of someone in that kind of situation I would be helping on a regular basis.

The mixing of worlds was a great touch. Instead of everything happening just inside the Amish community, Josiah worked for an Englicsh construction company. Buggies and cars alike used the roads they traveled on. It was a nice touch giving a different picture than the completely isolated community often portrayed in Amish stories.

I am looking forward to reading more books by Rachel J. Good. This was a great start to the series.


This review was originally posted on Among the Reads

You can read Rachel's guest post at AmongTheReads.net


I would like to thank Celebrate Lit, Netgalley for giving me this item. This gift did not influence my opinion or review.

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • Finished reading
  • 9 May, 2018: Reviewed