There’s a Green Plastic Monkey in My Purse (Book) Review

“If you’re feeling inadequate, join the club!”

There’s a Green Plastic Monkey in My Purse and Other Ways Motherhood Changes Us is the debut offering from Jessie Clemence which seeks to give moms everywhere another way to look at approaching motherhood. Even on Mother’s Day, the trials and tribulations of being mom can be overwhelming, and many mothers are desperate to find someway, anyway, to feel like they’re stacking up. From a messy house to unpaid bills to health issues, Clemence walks readers through the process of looking at things in a different way.

As a Christian writer, Clemence approaches the task of motherhood in the same way she does everything else in her life – from a faith based perspective. In There’s a Green Plastic Monkey in My Purse, she suggests that moms look to the Bible rather than their contemporaries for a how-to manual of life with kids. Each chapter focuses on an area of motherhood many women find challenging – patience, fear, finances, etc. – and examines it fully, first with her own experiences and shortcomings, then with Bible study and versus on that topic. Each chapter ends with a section of study questions to consider and an interview portion featuring a variety of mom friends of the author.

There’s a Green Plastic Monkey in My Purse is well written in an engaging, conversational tone, and the author doesn’t shy away from mentioning her own mistakes. It can be a good read, but it definitely is not a book for everyone. There are two things that you need to consider, before you consider this book: it is very conservative, and it is very religious. Obviously a book about using the Bible to guide your parenting techniques is going to be religious, and for the most part Clemence does a good job of tying in her stories about parenthood with relevant stories in the Bible.

The conservative part may be a little harder to handle for some, particularly in an age where more females are graduating with university degrees than men. Just to clarify real quickly here, I consider myself to be pretty mainstream, leaning conservative on some issues and liberal on others, like much of the population. As a well educated, I found the chapter on submitting to your husband to be..unpalatable, to say the least. And to be honest, it confused me.

There are other sections in the book where she skirts the topic that there are many interpretations of the Bible and very sections of it, particularly in issues like covering hair. And yet, in this verse, she sticks to the very literal interpretation, going so far as to say that even if your husband is really bad with money, and you are very good, you still need to submit to his financial decisions. She notes that, for most men, one really bad mistake is all it takes for them to learn their lesson, and we as women as getting in the way of God and our husbands by not letting him spend all of our mortgage money on a new boat, for no other reason than that he is possessed of a penis. That just honestly left a bad taste in my mouth, for several reasons.

If you look at it from a secular point of view, giving a financially irresponsible spouse control of the money could mean your children are without proper food, housing, clothing, and more – and not just in the short term. In today’s world, bad credit can make even things like getting a job or renting an apartment near impossible. If you look at it from a faith based point of view, it still doesn’t make sense. Yes, God will take care of you, but God takes care of those who help themselves – you have to try. And besides, if you are very good with money, didn’t God make you that way?

There’s a Green Plastic Monkey in My Purse and Other Ways Motherhood Changes Us takes a look at motherhood from a faith based perspective. It’s a great gift for the Christian mothers in your life, as it gives some solid tips on letting go of the worry and trusting that all will end as it’s meant to. However, it is both very conservative and very religious, so keep that in mind when considering your purchase.