Book Title: Molly Ann's Message
Author: Edith Mary Gunderson
Date: 1953
Publisher: Moody Bible Institute
Length: 128 pages
Quote: "I'm to tell Grandpa that you sent me to tell him God's love, and Mamma's love."
Molly Ann is an orphan whose grumpy Grandpa never sees visitors, but always sends out food for beggars. Although an atheist, he intends to be just as good and kind as a Christian. Knowing she has a short time left to live, Molly Ann's Mamma has rented a room near Grandpa's house and died there, leaving Molly Ann to throw herself on Grandpa's mercy by wandering out to his house alone, dusty enough to look like a beggar.
Everyone wants to comfort Molly Ann by giving her pets, and her bond with one of these pets will eventually impress Grandpa so much that he joins the church...but, for those who think that even a real oldfashioned Sunday School book should have a little suspense, I won't explain how.
And this is a real oldfashioned Sunday School book, with the paper, not cardboard, binding, red-and-blue line drawing on the front cover, and all, just the way people currently over age 55 remember the genre. If you've missed these flimsy but well-intentioned books and wanted to share one with a child, here is one for you.
I enjoyed these books mostly in grade two...because that was the first year I was exposed to them. (Teachers were no longer allowed to pray in school but they were allowed to display Sunday School books for free reading and give them to students as souvenirs, and a couple of mine had extensive collections.) Vocabulary words like "union depot," "poultry," "procession," "rebuked," and "mantelpiece" may be unfamiliar to some second grade readers. Some of my sixth grade classmates still enjoyed some of the Moody Bible Institute's Sunday School books, but my guess would be that Molly Ann will appeal most to primary school readers.
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