Growing Up Amish

I grew up in rural Iowa on a farm, although my knowledge and experience with farming was minimal. Near us was a large Amish community, and I enjoyed driving around near their farms, seeing them travel by buggy, shopping at their store, and visiting their school for a field trip.

Ira Wagler's book, Growing Up Amish, tells of Wagler's own experience in an Amish community. While much of this lifestyle I could imagine, and have read about either in various fiction books or have heard about because of our proximity to an Amish community, there were still interesting and new facts I didn't know about. Learning how a preacher was selected was new to me. Also new to me was Wagler's ability to move in and out of his Amish community while he was deciding if he should remain with his family or seek a life outside of what he knew. I have heard of others leaving the Amish, but have not heard of people re-joining their family or being accepted back in the fold.

Growing Up Amish was interesting; Wagler is able to make peace with his decision to leave the Amish lifestyle, and share different aspects of Amish living that most people will not know about.