WONDERFUL GOOD NEIGHBORS

An engaging portrait of Amish and Mennonite life in southeastern Pennsylvania, this nevertheless ignores some of the deeper convictions we may have about these separated sects. It is also a very different kind of book from the humorous animal stories we have come to associate with Ruth Helm. Emmanuel Tremaine is about twelve when he comes from Chicago to live with his mother and a newly acquired stepfather, John Linn. John has inherited his farm and is not Amish, though he has real affection for his neighbors. Undersized and resentful when he arrives, Manny is burdened by what he considers sissy ways, but as he comes to know other children, aids in the hunt for a lostgirl and wins the right to his own garden, a new boy emerges. A nourishing introduction to different ways but certainly not on the revealing level of Virginia Sorenson's Plain Girl.