Loud Emily (ISBN 0689810784)

Sock it to 'em, Emily:
Bought this book for my granddaughter who loves to sail. She got right into it. Kids seem to identify with imperfections... so she gets an enormous kick out of Emily's loud voice. And I like the crazy ending...as does she. Life doesn't have to be logical... just fun! I also like being able to explain the nautical terms to her. This is a super book for 4 and 5 year olds.

You Will Love It!:
A nearly perfect book with a rhythmic narrative and richly stylized illustrations, "Loud Emily" is an engaging and informative book that I highly recommend. It's the story of Emily, a little girl who voice started out LOUD and just got LOUDER: "But as Emily grew, so did her voice. It rattled the brasses. It shimmied the crystals. It shattered the plates as they crashed to the floor." There's a great narrative flair here, and the book is fun to read. The illustrations, depicting mid-19th century houses and ships, are done with a "crackle" technique, and some pictures recall needlework or stenciling. The illustrator also has fun accenting a sort of American Gothic style with humorous touches and a tad of parody. The message here (and it is subtle and secondary to the story) is that there is a niche for everyone. For Emily, it is aboard a 3-masted sailing ship: "Can you call an order from the fo'c'sle to quarter-deck above a gale force wind?" peeped Captain Baroo. "AYE AYE, CAPTAIN!" she said. Before the captain could say "Mizzenmast," Emily called, "ALL HANDS ON DECK!" and every ship's crew came running." The story has humor, drama, emotion, and action. You will share your child's delight when reading lines such as "AVAST! LUFF HER UP BEFORE WE"RE STOVE!" (the endpapers have a glossary!), and seeing the big ship rolling over a huge green sea. There's also an imaginative surprise ending. This is that rare book which is both literate and fun, and where the sparkle of the prose is matched by the stylish originality of the pictures. One of the best children's books I've read in years, it's about 38 pages long including endnotes, and recommended by the publisher for children 4-8 years old. However, I think it might appeal to a much broader audience as well!

Lively language, captivating story, comforting message:
Loud Emily is an original folk tale with quirky characters and plot, and a surprise ending. We cheer when Loud Emily finds her place among noisy downstairs servants and the boisterous crew of a sailing ship. But we rejoice even more when she comes to be appreciated by her stuffy parents. This is a light-hearted adventure about a girl who goes to sea. It is also a comforting story about finding your own place when you are "different."

A fun book!:
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book aloud to my daughters. It's about a little girl born with a really big voice who after struggling to fit in finds her niche in the world. What is a problem to one person often can be a solution to another. And that's the message I got from this book. Emily's loud voice, while annoying her family to the point that they fear her ability to fit into the world, eventually ends up helping others (from the round kitchen cook who needed help calling the servants, to a sea captain who needed help shouting commands to his crew, to a lighthouse whose light was broken and needed someone to warn ships of the rocks). And the artwork is exceptional - wonderfully rich in color! Give this fun book a read!

Read this book and you will be sad and happy at the same time:
This book begins when Emily is born. Emily is really loud and her parents don't want her, so she goes to the kitchen and helps the cook and the kitchen maids. She goes back to her parents and shouts "I'M BACK," in her Emily voice. Then her parents send her to sea. Emily is very helpful to the Captain and his sailors. The author's purpose was really to entertain the people with his writing and also express feelings because Emily was sad when she was sent to sea and was a little angry with her voice. The illustrator's pictures were decorated. At the end the illustrator used lots of imagination. I think you should really read this book, because at the beginning it was1a little sad, and at the end it was FUN! Please read Loud Emily. Lisa (Pakistan)