Bettie is always trying to get new people involved in her
scrapbooking club. She talks the following women into joining the group: Isabel
Kidd, who has been Bettie's neighbor for years but who has not, until recently,
been interested in the club; Yvonne Tate, a newcomer to town who is a real
looker but who practices the unlikely profession of a plumber (and she's a good
one); Ava Catalina who lives by herself with her little son, Max; and Frances
Latham, the mother of three boisterous boys who is trying to adopt a little
girl from China. These four females not only become entwined in the club, they
become caught up in Bettie's life. When Bettie's health is threatened, all of
them, along with many members of the community, band together to help her out.
This is a delightful story of small town America ,
showing the true spirit of life in small towns such as this one. It is also
chock full of information about scrapbooking - ideas, techniques, new products,
etc. - as well as with information about the delights of Amish Friendship
Bread. At the end of the book, author Darien Gee includes recipes for eight
dishes that are mentioned in the text, as well as a link to Friendship Bread
Kitchen (www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com), where you can find tons of recipes
for the basic Friendship Bread starter. She also offers hints and tips about
basic scrapbooking, as well as ideas for starting your own scrapbooking group.
And, if that weren't enough, she throws in information about Alzheimers (one of
the characters in the story is diagnosed with this awful disease), and a link
to Half the Sky (www.halfthesky.org), a website where you can learn more about
adopting Chinese children.
