Customer Reviews

Emma's Rug

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It goes without saying that all of Allen Say's books are wonderful; if you've not read "Tea with Milk" or "Grandfather's Journey" or "Allison" (the best book about adoption I've ever read), you are missing a great master in the world of children's picture books. Say both writes and illustrates his books, and the continuity created by this one-person effort (not that he's the only writer who illustrates his own books) is always noticeable, providing a consistency in tone and approach sometimes absent in children's books when the writing and art jobs are divvied up.

Allen Say illustrates his books with rich, yet spare, watercolors that work lovingly and effortlessly with his clean prose style. His paintings are highly representational, even photographic at times, and their perspective and precision are more sometimes more suggestive of oils than watercolors. In this book, Say departs from this realistic tendency at times when he captures beautifully the developing artistic sensibility of a young girl. I don't want to say how he does it, or tell you more about the story than this, because its unfolding is part of the joy here.

For any artistic child, this is a gift of validation for his or her creative interest. And this takes children who appreciate art into the inner world of those who create it. I can't say enough about this fabulous book.

I don't know how you can give this book 4 stars! If anything this is a 5 star book. I've met Allen Say and he said that 'The question that all authors hate most is, Were do you get your ideas? So I wrote this book and if somone asks me were I get my ideas for books I say read Emma's Rug.

A wonderful story about how a young girl finds her true source of inspiration to draw and paint. Allen Say does a fabulous job with his watercolor illustrations.

When Emma was born as a baby gift she was given a plain creme colored rug that her Mother put by her crib. As Emma grew she began to draw beautiful pictures and won many awards. Emma got her inspiration and what to draw from her rug. One day while at school, her mother finds her rug while she was in Emma's room and found the rug was dirty and washed it. When Emma came home and found her rug missing she was upset, and even more upset after the rug came out of the dryer, smaller, clean and not fluffy. Emma's insipartion for her drawings was no longer there..... and finally one day after throwing all of her artwork, awards and supplies in the trash as well the rug.....she finally again sees and feels " her Inspiration" and realizes that creativity come from within, not from an object.

This is my 1st Allen Say book, and I really am impressed! Here's to more great books.

Our family of avid readers all read Emma's Rug today. Five bright kids, ages 7, 9, and 11, all found the story difficult to interpret. Beautifully illustrated, the book is one to be shared with children and discussed. After talking about the "clues" the author gave us to explain the significance of the rug, all of the kids understood the story. As a 41-year-old mother and English teacher, I find the story intriguing, and I am considering using it my classroom to teach inference. Although a challenging story for young readers, Emma's Rug should not be missed.

Emma, like many children, has a very strange lovey. It's a rug.

And that rug, with its fluff, is her inspiration for all the art she does, all the awards she wins that she doesn't care about.

Until her mother washes it, and poor Emma is totally traumatized. I'm not sure if that scene is over-the-top or not, but the girl literally throws out all her pictures and stops talking in class. The happy ending comes when she sees she can get her inspiration from the world instead of the rug.

I'm not sure what I think of this book, to be honest.