Loud Emily [Paperback]

Alexis O'Neill (Author), Nancy Carpenter (Illustrator)

Book Description

Poor Emily. She doesn't mean to be loud, but whenever she says anything in her Emily voice, plates shatter, neighbors are astonished, and birds are frightened right out of the trees. It seems like there's nowhere she fits in. Until the day she sees a ship with a sign that reads: LOUD HELP NEEDED. NOW. So Emily sets sail for an adventure on the high seas, where perhaps there is a place for her after all...

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-Set in a 19th-century New England whaling town, this picture book champions the cause of loud children and the resourcefulness of little girls. When Emily is born, her booming "GOO GOO BA BA" startles the midwife and frightens away the birds. As she grows older, she grows louder. Rather than be carted off to Miss Meekmeister's School for Soft-Spoken Girls, Emily gets herself a job calling orders on a whaling ship. This is just the place for the boisterous child, and she blasts commands to the crew and even saves the ship during a storm. In the satisfying conclusion, Emily returns to live with her family, but this time in a lighthouse where she warns passing vessels of dangerous rocks. "And nobody there in that house by the sea ever complains of the noise." The oil paintings are styled after 19th-century folk art and successfully pull the story together. Much of the text is set against embroidery cloth, giving the book a charming, homespun look. The endpapers provide the words for several sea chanteys, along with scrimshaw-style illustrations that show Emily, her mouth open wide, hard at work with the sailors. A rollicking tale with a likable heroine that attests to the irrepressible nature of children.
Christy Norris Blanchette, Valley Cottage Library, NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Ages 4^-8. Part tall tale, part stage show, this boisterous picture book set in a mid-nineteenth-century whaling town combines elements of Upstairs, Downstairs with a wild sea-adventure. From the day she is born, Emily's booming voice shatters the peace of her parents' stately mansion, but she finds acceptance in the happy din with the servants downstairs, where the cook likes "a lass who speaks up." To avoid her fate in a school for "Softspoken Girls," Emily runs away to sea, where the captain uses her trumpeting voice to call all hands on deck, and even the whales listen to her wild tunes. Then, in a storm, she takes over the damaged lighthouse and shouts to warn the ships of danger; her voice rings out loud and true, and she's a hero. Carpenter's exuberant oil paintings are in the folk-art styles of the period. From the opening scene with the bellowing, big-mouthed infant bursting out of a world too small for her, this is akin to the 1995 Caldecott Honor Books, Anne Isaacs' Swamp Angel and Julius Lester's John Henryexcept that this hero doesn't grow into a giant: she's a small child and she's powerful. At first, Emily's mother holds embroidered pillows over her ears as Emily's voice shatters the crystal and throws the plates in the drawing room; but by the end, everyone moves in step to Emily's command: the servants in the house, the sailors on the ship, and the whales in the sea. Hazel Rochman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 40 pages
• Publisher: Aladdin (December 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068984669X
• ISBN-13: 978-0689846694
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 10 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #675,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alexis O'Neill is the author of picture books that deal with friendship in various shapes and sizes. Among those books, THE RECESS QUEEN (Scholastic) has been nominated for eleven state readers' choice awards and has won in two states. This book about a playground bully has also been translated into Chinese (how do you say, "lollapaloosh" in Chinese?), Korean (how do you say, "kitz and kajammer" in Korean?) and French (oo-la-la!).

In addition to earning starred reviews, her first picture book, LOUD EMILY (Simon & Schuster) was included on the list of "Yankee Magazine 100 Classic New England Children's Books." This honor was especially meaningful to her as she was born in Boston & raised in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Now that she lives in California, she is excited that her book, ESTELA'S SWAP (Lee & Low), about an intergenerational friendship at a California swap meet, has struck a chord with dedicated readers.

Alexis has also written for a variety of magazines including Cricket, Spider, Cobblestone, Calliope, Faces, and Writer's Digest. She teaches at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and organizes SCBWI events for writers & illustrators in Central/Coastal California. She has a B.S. from Skidmore College, an M.S and Ph.D. from Syracuse University and was sent to the University of London on a Rotary International Fellowship. Among her adventures, she was named Miss Kitchen of Swiftcurrent Inn at Glacier National Park, won a spot in the last Girl Scout Roundup in Idaho, and has led multiple theater trips to Ireland. She loves photography, swimming, theater, the Erie Canal, American history, cats and her husband, David.

An expert presenter, Alexis l-o-v-e-s meeting kids all over the country through school visits, showing them how to read and write with their whole body.

She promises that if you learn the Mike & Conrad True-Blue Friendship Handshake from THE WORST BEST FRIEND when you come to meet her, you qualify for the "Peace Begins on the Playground" Club. High-five!

www.alexisoneill.com
www.childrensauthorsnetwork.com
www.SchoolVisitExperts.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Will Love It!, March 22, 2004

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Loud Emily (Hardcover)

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!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sock it to 'em, Emily, November 30, 1998

By 

Robert S. Mellis (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Loud Emily (Hardcover)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lively language, captivating story, comforting message, November 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Loud Emily (Hardcover)

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."