First, recognize that this was written as a tribute to his late wife Caneta, "mother of five and wife of 69 years." That makes everything in it that much more poignant.
Second, I believe that this should be approached as a classbook. Brother Hall has added discussion questions after each of the thirteen lessons (see? a teaching quarter) that could keep a class going far more than the requisite 45 minutes most allow and well into the hour that ladies' classes on weekdays usually allot.
Third, it is not just a young mothers' book. Any mother or grandmother can gain from it, as well as others who serve as mentors and counselors for the women who approach them for advice. We are all mothers our whole lives if we are willing to serve that way.
The book also contains two appendices. The first one, written by a teenager (I assume) about how she values her virginity, should be required reading for every teenage Christian, male or female. Whoever and wherever this young woman is (brother Hall could not find her), she deserves our thanks for her frank and touching essay.
As I first read through the table of contents on this book I was amazed. I knew that we have a fair amount of material about Mary, including some logical inferences we can make, but I would have been hard-pressed to come up with 13 lessons. Brother Hall in his vast experience and knowledge of the scriptures has done far more than I would have thought possible.
Mary, Model of Motherhood was published by Mount Bethel Publishing.
Dene Ward