“Dutton dives deep into the rural speech of the Ohio River Valley without turning her characters cartoonish, and the varying views of the people in Mary Mae’s life, including her pastor, her great-grandmother, and others her mother respects, represent a variety of ways to balance faith and science; nor is Mary Mae’s mother demeaned as a person for her concerns.”
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Following is a nice review of Mary Mae and the Gospel Truth by Kirkus:
Ten-year-old Mary Mae loves questions. She adores her teacher, Miss Sizemore, who shows her fossils found right in her school’s backyard. She adores her Granny, who plays the guitar and will make up songs about anything. And Mary Mae loves Jesus with all her might. But she doesn’t understand why her church teaches that the earth is 6,000 years old, while Miss Sizemore says it’s more like 6,000,000. Her Mama doesn’t like Mary Mae’s questions. Don’t they show a lack of faith? Very few books for this age group tackle religious subjects as this one does, in a way that shows respect for all sides. Dutton allows Mary Mae to retain both her questions and her faith; instead of a definitive answer, she shows evolutionists and creationists working to find a small, shared piece of middle ground. Mary Mae is a memorable character—spunky but not defiant—whose search for truth drives the narrative.