As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
To continue you need an active subscription to hbook.com.
Subscribe now to gain immediate access to everything hbook.com has to offer, as well as our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database, which contains tens of thousands of short, critical reviews of books published in the United States for young people.
Thank you for registering. To have the latest stories delivered to your inbox, select as many free newsletters as you like below.
No thanks. Return to article
40 pp.
| Holt/Ottaviano
| February, 2020
|
TradeISBN 978-1-250-12808-9$18.99
(2)
K-3
Illustrated by
Christine Davenier.
Since not much is known about Dickinson as a child, Yolen constructs a fictional experience of what might have inspired her poetic observations later in life. Readers follow a very young Emily as she shows her three-word rhyming poem ("Frog and bog!") to her distracted father, who doesn't pay attention; her mother, abed, who doesn't open her eyes; and the more encouraging Mrs. Mack, their landlady. After communing outdoors with nature--the source of inspiration for her poem--Emily returns inside to search for new ideas (what rhymes with envelope?), with help from Mrs. Mack ("Hope, my dear girl. That's the best rhyme"). From Emily's youthful vantage point, Yolen indirectly explains a good deal about her life and interests, allowing readers to think--just as Emily does--"about the real and the unreal" and what lies in-between (it's poetry, according to Emily). An appended author's note and samples of Dickinson's poetry help put all these snippets of story into context. The pastel-hued watercolor and ink illustrations reflect Emily's precociousness and curiosity. Nineteenth-century period details set the scene throughout the book's balanced mix of spot art, full-page images, and double-page spreads. (For a more traditional picture-book biography of Dickinson, see Jennifer Berne's On Wings of Words, reviewed on page 137.)
(3)
YA
After her ex-boyfriend's suicide, sixteen-year-old Emily Beam is sent to an Amherst, Massachusetts, boarding school to start anew and heal. And through a friendship with her sympathetic roommate, connecting with local legend Emily Dickinson's work, and blossoming as a poet herself, she starts to. Hubbard thrives in both prose and verse storytelling: interspersed within emotionally astute third-person-omniscient narration are Emily's moving poems.
(3)
4-6
Illustrated by
Matt Phelan.
In nineteenth-century Amherst, Massachusetts, Miss Emily entices four neighbor children to sneak out into the night to await the arrival of a circus train to town, sparking their curiosity and imagination. This well-researched, whimsical yarn in verse about Emily Dickinson's playful nature is based on real people and facts (all specified in the historical notes). Phelan's light sketches visualize key moments. Bib.
(4)
YA
Reeling from her mother's suicide, her best friend's disappearance, and suspicion surrounding her involvement, Claire seeks solace at Emily Dickinson's house after hours. When she accidentally steals the poet's dress, Claire enters into a murkily defined relationship with her former teacher. Her self-absorbed narration limits the melancholy novel's perspective, but Claire ultimately manages to be a sympathetic character.