About the Author

Linda Maendel was born and raised at the Elm River Hutterer colony in Manitoba, Canada. Here she lives with her mother, five sisters and a brother. Linda works as an assistant in the Kolonieschule and teaches German and English. She prefers to teach German. In her spare time, she likes to read and at times she writes stories and poems. For a long time she had the dream to write a German children's book. Through this story, Dora Maendel's willingly edited work and Hutterian Brethern Book Center, her dream became reality.

About the Illustrator

Sonia Maendel, the sister of Linda Maendel, was born in the Elm River colony and still lives there today. Sonia is engaged in various community and family work: cooking, baking, sewing, as well as gardening and preserving in the summer. In her free time, she likes to paint with acrid or water color. Your favorite medium is acrid. Sonia has already painted a lot of beautiful pictures, but Linda's Lucky Day is her first book.

Book Descriptions

Family life in a Hutterite Colony differs from the family dynamics of most Canadian families. Besides parents, children have a number of relatives who live in the same community. Everyone helps out; I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Linda's happy day provides a view of the life in a hutterite colony from the perspective of a child growing up in a loving and well protected environment. This is a traditionally used dialect. "Hutterisch", a dialect based on the dialect spoken in Carinthia, Austria, is used frequently, giving the story authenticity and authority of its reference to a lasting heritage.                                                           

--Ruth Renters, Hutterite Journal 2007

Linda's happy day, written by Linda Maendel and illustrated by Sonia Maendel is a wonderful little book. It was not just because of the nice story, but rather that the first attempt was made here to write down and publish the old Carinthian dialect, which the Hutterians have preserved in Europe since their time and still speak as a mother tongue. The story of Linda, who would like to have her own sleigh, is told in High German, but the dialogues with her girlfriends, her little sister and her parents are written in Hutterisch. In addition to the linguistic aspect, the book also gives a good insight into everyday life and family life at the Gmahschoftern in the vastness of the Canadian Praerie. The dream of Linda Maendel to write a children's book in German has been fulfilled with the help of her mentor Dora Maendel and the Hutterian Brethern Book Center, which has published the book. Congratulations to all of you. It is hoped that many stories will follow in Hutterisch in book form.

--Dr. Helga Lorenz-Andreasch, University of Klagenfurt

It is in this beautifully designed book much more than a story for children, the wishes and needs of a hutterish girl, who would like to have a sled of his own. We are dealing here with a piece of authentic literature that brings us closer to the culture and the living conditions of the Hutterians in Canada. 
This book is one of the first contemporary documents in which the Hutterian mother tongue has found its place, this soft, stretched, melodious upper German dialect dating back to the Middle High German, which is still spoken today in the heart of the North American continent.
And it is also like this: joy, grief, hope, despair are shared in the most spoken and memorable way in the spoken language, especially in children. Already from this point of view, it is simply refreshing to accompany Linda a short distance and "listen" to her. Because this is what happens to one while reading this book: one not only reads, but hears the participants formally speaking. Is there a better reading experience? I wish more such testimonies!

--Karli Süss, former specialist consultant for German in West-Canada