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Review by Etta Wilson
A few years ago I visited Shakertown, Kentucky, one of the Shaker settlements established in the early 1800s. I went thinking these people had been some kind of spiritual elite who gave themselves completely to their faith, even to the point of not marrying. They probably were, but I came away more impressed by their practical inventions.
Working in their separate settlements in New England and later in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, they either invented or patented the box stove, a revolving oven, the washing machine, the broom, the pull-toy, the wheelbarrow. They developed medicines and started the first mail-order seed business, packing the seeds in tiny envelopes with directions printed on them much like we do today. Shaker cookbooks still flourish with their emphasis on hearty, healthy food.
This combination of highminded holiness and hardworking practicality has obviously impressed Ann Turner as well. Turner lives near the Shaker settlement in Hancock, Massachusetts. In her new book Shaker Hearts, she uses the phrase "hands to work, hearts to God" in each four-line poetic verse describing Shaker life. This phrase from founder Ann Lee captures life in a Shaker village perfectly.
The simplicity and order are pictured just as perfectly in Wendell Minor's realistic illustrations. The plain, neat homes with lots of windows, the people always working yet never rushing, speak loudly of their inner convictions.
But what does this book say to children? After all, this is a children's book, and the Shakers did love children -- they adopted orphans, they established superior schools for the day.
Shaker Hearts is a book to be shared and discussed. Questions come from every page: why is the barn built in a round shape? Why do the women wear those funny caps? Why do they bake pies with lattice crusts? Why are their baskets round? And why are they called Shakers? It's a book to look through slowly and then check references. Even if children only read the text, it will convey the very things they may need most to feel -- peace and industry and orderly beauty.
Etta Wilson is children's book review editor of this publication.
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