Books are available at your local Christian bookstore. They can also be ordered online at www.amazon.com, www.christianbook.com,
and many other places.
PLAY ALONG WITH RACHEL
Here is a page for you to color.
It's Rachel and her brother, Jacob.
If you’re a fan of the Rachel Yoder books you might want to have a Rachel Yoder sleepover like some of my reader fans have done.
Here are some sleepover suggestions:
Dress up in plain clothes similar to what Rachel Yoder and her family wear in the books.
Turn off the TV and electronic games and play some outside games like baseball, volleyball, croquet, tag, or hide-and-seek. You could also skateboard, jump on a trampoline, blow bubbles, or jump rope.
For some indoor fun you could play an indoor board game, put a puzzle together, or make some recipes from the back of one of the Rachel Yoder books. Another fun thing you could do is draw and then color some pictures of your favorite characters or scenes from the Rachel Yoder books and put them together like a coloring book.
MORE FUN!
Recipe for Rachel’s Homemade Bubble Solution:
1/4 cup liquid dishwashing detergent
3/4 cup cold water
5 drops of glycerin (available at most pharmacies)
A few drops of food coloring (if you want colorful bubbles.)
Measure out the water, detergent, and glycerin into container with a cover and stir gently. Note: The longer you let the mixture set, the larger the bubbles are and the longer they seem to last.
Directions for Making Rachel’s
Pressed Flowers:
Things you will need:
Flowers
Newspapers (black and white section only)
Scissors
Heavy Books
Colored pens or pencils
Corrugated cardboard
Place flowers between 10 sheets of newspaper (Note: Put 5 sheets of newspaper with no flowers on them, then put flowers on five separate pieces of newspaper and add more pieces of blank newspaper to the top. The blank newspapers act as blotting paper). You can put several flowers on one layer, but make sure the flowers don’t touch.
Place a piece of corrugated cardboard over the newspaper. For each set of flowers you want to press add layers of newspaper and cardboard.
Place several books on top of the stack of cardboard and newspapers
Write down the date you begin pressing the flowers and keep them in a warm, dry room for about 3 weeks. Remove the books and gently separate the flowers from the newspaper. If the flowers feel stiff and dry, they’re ready to use. It’s a good idea to keep your flowers inside the newspapers with cardboard between them until you’re ready to use them. Pressed flowers can be used to decorate bookmarks, postcards, stationery, or for decorations in scrapbooks. Be creative and have fun!
IN THE KITCHEN WITH RACHEL
Some of her favorite Amish Recipes.
Recipe for Rachel's Hurry-Up Cake (which is included in 'Back to School')
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour (do not substitute)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup softened butter
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a mixing bowl, mix the cake flour with baking powder, sugar, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs and softened butter. Add the dry ingredients and milk alternately to the egg and butter mixture. Add vanilla and beat hard for 3 minutes. Pour into 2 greased and floured 8-inch layer cake pans and bake for 5 minutes. Raise oven heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes. Cool, remove from pans, then frost with strawberry icing.
Blend butter and powered sugar together in a bowl. Stir in the mashed strawberries, adding enough milk to make a creamy frosting that is easy to spread but not too runny. Spread on cooled cake.
One of Rachel's favorite things to do
is go on a picnic. Here are two recipes she loves.
In 1-gallon jar, dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water. Add sugar and root beer extract with enough warm water to dissolve thoroughly. Stir until dissolved. Fill jar with water and let set in the sun or a warm place for several hours or until strong enough. Cool.
Note: Root beer can be made in the morning and will be ready to drink by noon.
Ingredients:
2 cups cane molasses
2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon baking soda
4 (9 inch) unbaked pie shells
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine molasses, water, and baking soda. Divide mixture equally into unbaked pie shells.
CRUMB MIXTURE:
4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons lard or shortening
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ginger
Pinch of salt
Blend all ingredients in a separate bowl until mixture forms crumbs.
Divide crumbs and sprinkle evenly on top of filling in pie shells; let stand for 10 minutes. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until done.
Dress up in plain clothes similar to what Rachel Yoder and her family wear in the books. 
One of Rachel's favorite things to do