Richard E Kelly

A revised and expanded Third Edition of Growing Up In Mama’s Club will be available for purchase on March 14, 2008. This third printing includes an additional thirty-eight pages of new stories, a glossary of Club jargon, and a short history of the Club. And, it reflects my commitment to continuous improvement.

My website has been updated to reflect the introduction of this new Third Edition, as well as additional retail outlets where the book can be purchased online. And if you interested in reading excerpts of the book, you can do so by linking onto text found in the “Notes” section of the website.

     My eleven-year-old granddaughter, Erika Kelly Waalkes, was asked by her sixth-grade teacher to read a book and turn in a three-page review of it before this past year’s Christmas break. She chose Growing Up In Mama’s Club.

     Summing up her read, Erika wrote, “The author, Richard Kelly, is a very descriptive writer. He paints pictures of the people and places in his book with vivid verbs and a wide vocabulary. I am very proud of him and I will continue to love him with all of my heart! Great job Papa!

     In the body of her report, she was asked to do character and chapter analysis, and a book summary. I found it surprising how little information she shared about Mama, her great grandmother. Instead, she chose to comment on the strengths and flaws of Papa and my half-brother, Tim.

     Erika’s favorites were my grandparents, Georgie, Sheila, Grandma Bean, Helen, and Dickie. She was particularly impressed with Grandpa Evans as a positive role model. Her two least favorites were Mrs. Edwards and Mama. She especially did not like their negative outbursts about Christmas.

     I am very proud of Erika. She is a wonderful young lady and I hope she will want to read my story again as an adult. While my book was not written to be read by children, I hope they will be the benefactors of my soapbox message: “A parent’s responsibility is to instill values and ethics when raising their children, not to force them to adhere to and believe in strict religious dogma they are not emotionally or intellectually mature enough to comprehend.”

I just recently learned about an interesting program called Bookclub in a Bag sponsored by the KDL (Kent District Library) here in west Michigan. Here’s how it works.

I provide 12 copies of  Growing Up In Mama’s Club – A Childhood Perspective of Jehovah’s Witnesses to the  library. I also give them my bio and a study guide of thought provoking questions related to the book. Book clubs and small groups check out the book, bio, and discussion questions, and well, you know the rest. Unlike studying one of the Club’s publications, there are no right or wrong answers. The questions are designed to stimulate healthy dialogue, helping the reader make the book read a more meaningful experience.

I haven’t put together my list of questions for Mama’s Club yet. But I’m thinking about it. Perhaps some good questions to ask would be: What was Mama’s state of mind when someone from the Club first knocked on her door? What would you have advised her to do had you been asked to help? Why do you think people like Stuart Sanders, Lena Edwards, and Papa were attracted to the Club? How is the memorial of Christ’s death celebrated differently by the Club? What was the Club able to do for Mama that other religions couldn’t? Why do members of the Club believe they are the only religious group that has ”the truth?” Why couldn’t Dickie believe it? How was he able to cope with a situation he had no control over? What made him decide to finally leave the Club? How did his two-year Bethel (the Club’s headquarters) experience help him? Do you believe the author is still angry from his 16-year experience with the Club? If not, why? What advice would you give parents after reading the book?