The Reuben stories by Merle Good and illustrated by Buckley Moss are four of the most lovely picture books I have read in the last year. I found Reuben and the Blizzard at my local thrift store and instantly fell in love. I ran to Biblioguides to see if there were more and was delighted to discover there were four stories in total about this sweet Amish farm family, published from 1993-2008. Reuben and the Quilt should be a must-read for everyone. 

Reuben is the only boy in a farm family with five sisters, parents, and grandfather. In Reuben and the Fire, he longs for the day when his datt (dad) will let him drive the buggy. While he waits, however, he and his dawdi (grandfather) share the joy of naming new baby bunnies. 

When Reuben goes over to visit his best friends (twins Ben and Sam), they notice smoke across the field. A neighbor’s barn is on fire! They run to get help. When they get to the farm, all of the men are ushering the cows and animals out of the barn and into the fields. When they ask if they can help, one of the men suggests that they try to rescue the new baby puppies that are in the milk house. They do!

The next day, Reuben has to stay home and bale hay while the men go to the farm to clean up the mess and start a barn-raising. In no time at all, the entire community heads over to the farm to share the work and the feast that go along with getting a new barn built. 

This book is a wonderful look into the traditional farm life of an Old Order Amish community. In the end, Reuben has a special present for his help in rescuing the puppies.

My favorite of the books, Reuben and the Blizzard, tells a sweet story of the biggest blizzard to move through the area in years. The blizzard presents challenges and fun for the entire family. Especially sweet is that the story opens with the birth of five little puppies. 

This story has all of the charm of something like Louisa May Alcott with a modern twist. When the electricity goes out, Reuben’s community is unaffected because they don’t use it anyway. But, when the neighbor’s wife goes into labor and cannot get to the hospital because of the snowed-in roads, Reuben’s family comes to the rescue with their sleigh! 

The most serious and thoughtful of the stories, Reuben and the Quilt, invites us into a beautiful story of forgiveness that is so consistent with the Amish culture.

When Reuben’s neighbor is seriously ill and in need of operation, Reuben’s family decides to make a log cabin quilt to sell at auction. The entire family contributes to the quilt in different ways. When it is all finished and left out to air, it is stolen. Stunned and sad, the family grieves the loss. Instead of harboring anger, they decide that whoever took it must need it more than their neighbor. So, that night they set out the matching pillowcases with a note to take those as well. What happens is surprising and beautiful. 

Reuben and the Balloon is a delightful story of a hot air balloon that lands near the farm in search of hospitality, and the balloonists are ready to reciprocate. This one is fun and offers the reader a chance to see the farms from above. 

P. Buckley Moss is an internationally renowned artist whose husband’s work brought their family to Waynesboro, Virginia where she came into contact with the Amish and Mennonite people. She was taken by the beauty of their way of life and has captured it in these stories. 

Merle Good is an American author who is famous for his 1971 novel about the Mennonite way of life, Happy as the Grass was Green. He has written other books for adults and children, and I will be on the lookout for them!

You can find out more about these books at Biblioguides. You can purchase them from Amazon, here.