Book Review: Good Morning Lord

A Fair Trade Book

Title: Good Morning Lord

Author: Donald Charles Mainprize

Date: 1974

Publisher: Baker

ISBN: 0-8010-5959-3

Length: pages not numbered; I count 64

Quote: “The poems and meditations offered here to teachers and administrators...should be received as thought-starters.”

Yes, although the picture shows a different copy of this book, it accurately depicts the copy I have. This little book seems to have warped a bit over the years. It still opens and lies flat, anyway.

Here are thirty “devotions” for teachers. Each end with a Bible reference. Each begin with a little motto, often a single sentence printed with one word to a line, and expands into one or two hundred words about classroom technique, followed by a one-sentence prayer and a one-sentence resolution.

“Behind

some

wild

students

are

two

parents

who

couldn’t

be

more

surprised.

I’ll not soon forget the day I met Tom Beebee’s parent...Tom was lazy...sloppy...Mr. Alfred Beebee...was concerned about his son’s education...The next Monday Tom had a sectioned notebook, a supply of pencils, and, most important, a new attitude...

O FATHER: Remind me that many parents want to know how their kids act at school and want to take part in their education.

TODAY I WILL: Watch for those Jekyll and Hyde kids and use the phone to enlist parents’ back-up...

BIBLE FRAGMENT: Proverbs 29:17.”

Some of Mainprize’s thoughts reflect his time. Writing during the baby boom, he notes that his attention to “Tom Beebee” distracted him from paying attention to “the other thirty-three students” in that class—yes, that was normal. (That’s why charter schools exist.) Christians who teach can probably still benefit, though, from his little reminders of the ideals of their profession.

Mainprize is still living, according to the Internet, so this is a Fair Trade Book. Buy it here, $5 per book, $5 per package, $1 per online payment, as discussed at the Payment Information Page, and we'll send $1 to Mainprize or a charity of his choice. At least seven more books of this size will fit into one package.