Discovering Emily

by Jacqueline Pearce

Young Emily Carr has no interest in learning to be a lady. She loves animals and the outdoors, and she is beginning to discover that what she loves most of all is drawing and painting. Will she find a way to develop her talent in the straitlaced world of nineteenth-century Victoria, British Columbia?

Genres: Art, Childrens, Historical Fiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Jacqueline writes historical and contemporary fiction for children and teens, and is also a haiku poet. Her kids' books include Discovering Emily, about the childhood of artist, Emily Carr, Manga Touch, an easy-to-read YA novel that follows a teen girl's exchange trip to Japan, The Truth About Rats (and Dogs), a multi-cultural middle grade story about a boy who struggles against stereotypes and family expectations when he fosters a pet rat and prepares for a BMX bike competition, and Weeds and other stories, a short story collection in which the lives of urban teens intersect with nature in often unexpected ways. Jacqueline's non-fiction book, What Animals Want (written in consultation with the BCSPCA), is out fall 2021.

Jacquie's poetry can be found in a number of group collections, including A New Resonance 11: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku (Redmoon 2019). She is also editor of Last Train Home, an international collection of haiku, tanka, and rengay about trains and train travel (Pondhawk 2021). (Last Train Home, was written for adults, but middle grade and young adult readers will find many intriguing small poems within.)

Jacqueline lives on the edge of a ravine with her husband, daughter, dog and two cats, perched between nature and the city.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

While in Jacqueline Pearce's middle grade biographical novel about Canadian artist Emily Carr's childhood, while in Discovering Emily I do both understand and also appreciate that the young Emily Carr finds the strict rules and moral regulations of both her staunchly and arrogantly upper class family and 19th century Victoria, British Columbia society in general difficult if not even impossible to accept and adhere to (and yes indeed, that I also do think many of the punishments Emily must endure for misbehaviour and wilfulness rather mean-spirited if not actually horribly degrading and abusive) that author Jaqueline Pearce seems especially in the beginning chapters of Discovering Emily so very much intent on totally presenting mostly what can only be called a gigantic grocery list of one Emily Carr "misdeed" after another, this does sadly and frustratingly begin to feel more than somewhat tedious and actually rather massively thus. And while once Emily's artistic talents have been recognised and accepted by not only her father but also by her art teacher, Jacqueline Pearce's narrative does in fact pick up a bit of speed and become considerably more interesting and flowing, the rather one-sided Emily Carr versus her family and Victoria society beginning of Discovering Emily has certainly very much and lastingly lessened my general reading pleasure, as sorry, but even for novels penned for younger audiences, nuanced characters and scenarios are in my humble opinion essential and indeed even a must, and no, the chapters until in Discovering Emily young Emily Carr's artistic talents are recognised, they are just too blatantly stereotypical and monotonous for me to consider more than two stars (a high two stars, to be sure, but still not yet enough for me rate Discovering Emily with three stars).

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but it was hard. First, it's such a downer. If it were set today, Emily would be a whiner, constantly saying, "It's so unfair!" As it is, she's rebellious, and goes out of her way to disobey--and then wonders why everyone's mad at her all the time. She obviously hates her father's idea of "church" and "proper Christian behaviour" such as cold food and no work on Sunday. Nowhere does the book mention that this was a common belief at that time in all of N. America (excluding, perhaps, Mexico). In fact I knew lots of older people in the 1960s who wouldn't cook on Sunday. They'd go out for a meal, though. Apparently it was okay for restaurant staff to break the Sabbath so they could have a hot meal brought to them. I'd never heard of a young child wearing corsets, but then that's just me. I understand it's a chapter book, which usually means short chapters, but if I hadn't read the blurb I wouldn't have found a clear indication of when or where the family lived until very near the end. Perhaps the authoress didn't expect anyone outside her immediate vicinity to read the book, but hey, I'm in S. Europe, help me out here! The "town" they visit occasionally isn't even named. Ever. When the text mentioned Beacon Hill and a harbour, I thought--Boston? Surely not! And I was right, it wasn't--but no specific mention of what it was.

Second, it's scrappy. A little brother suddenly appears out of nowhere halfway through the book. There are hints that Mama and the eldest girl are some kind of invalids, but no mention as to why. Is the oldest girl an asthmatic or does she just kind of stay home to look after Mom? The narration manages to sap even the most exciting hair breadth 'scapes of any emotion, leaving a text as flat, stale and unprofitable as those legalistic Sundays Emily disliked so much.

ETA: Third, Pearce lifted whole passages word-for-word from Emily Carr's own book, The Book of Small, without so much as a footnote. I hope she at least got permission to quote!

The book smells strongly of "series" but I won't be looking for any more of the authoress' work. I strongly suggest the interested reader find Carr's own book. It will sound familiar but so much better, as Carr was far the better writer.