Mary Slessor (For Children)

It is a children’s version of the full-length biography of Mary Slessor. It tells how a poor girl who worked in a factory in Dundee went to Calabar, in what is now Nigeria, lived among the Okoyong people, protected twin babies and their mothers, and came to be called “Everybody’s Mother.”

A Scottish missionary who lived from 1848 to 1915. She started work in a factory when she was eleven, sailed to Calabar in 1876, and spent almost forty years in what is now south-eastern Nigeria. She learned the Efik language, lived in Okoyong from 1888, helped to make peace between enemies, rescued twins, and started schools and churches along the Enyong Creek. The people called her Ma.

Every chapter is short and made to be read aloud. It begins with a Bible verse, tells one part of Mary’s story, shows one simple thing it means for you, and ends with a short prayer. Three questions follow, to talk about together.

Some of it is sad. Mary’s father drank too much, many of the babies she cared for died, and some old customs cost people their lives. The book does not pretend otherwise, but it tells these things gently, without frightening detail. Above all it is a story of how God looked after a frightened woman, made her brave, and used her to save many lives.

Yes. They come from Mary Slessor’s own letters and from people who knew her, as gathered by her first biographer. A few stories, like the one about the gang leader with the lead weight, were remembered from her own telling years later, and the book says so. It also says plainly that Mary was not the first to stand against the killing of twins, and that many others, African and Scottish, helped her.

It is for children, to be read aloud by a grown-up or read by an older child alone. There is also a teen edition, and the full-length biography for older readers.