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Young American Voices #2
Emma's Journal: The Story of a Colonial Girl
The year is 1774, and the British army has blockaded Boston. Ten-year-old Emma is stuck at Aunt Harmony's house in the city, far from her family. Emma desperately wants to help the American struggle for freedom. When Papa gives her a secret code the militia uses, she finally gets her chance to change the course of history.
56 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
4 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Marissa Moss
114 books264 followersMarissa Moss has written more than seventy books, from picture books to middle-grade and young adult novels. Best known for the Amelia's Notebook series, her books are popular with teachers and children alike. Her picture book Barbed Wire Baseball won the California Book Award gold medal. Moss is also the founder of Creston Books, an independent children's publishing house.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 11, 2022
I bought this book for my ten year old granddaughter and wanted to preview it. The heroine is ten also and is sent to Boston in 1774 to help her aunt with chores. It is disconcerting for Emma to leave her farm and her family but also exciting to live in Boston and see firsthand the conflict between the British and the American militia.
I especially enjoyed the small drawings and doodles and the map on the front pages. This was entertaining and informative and I would like to read the other three in the Young American Voices series.
I especially enjoyed the small drawings and doodles and the map on the front pages. This was entertaining and informative and I would like to read the other three in the Young American Voices series.
February 26, 2018
This was a good book. It was really interesting to read. It was very well researched and fun. Definitely from an American point of view, but it was humorous and fun.
January 26, 2023
When I was a young kiddo I read it and thought it was pretty interesting 😉✨
May 7, 2013
Moss, M. (1999). Emma’s journal: the story of a colonial girl. New York, New York: Scholastic.
Emma is a ten-year-old girl who lives in Menetomy during colonial times. She lives with her family, but she is being sent to Boston to help out her Aunt Harmony. Her aunt doesn’t have a servant girl to help her, so Emma is being sent to go to Boston alone. When she gets there, she lives with Aunt Harmony, a very demanding woman, and Thankful Bliss, one of her aunt’s borders. Aunt Harmony is a Whig (a colonist who supports colonial independence from the British), and Thankful is a Tory (a person who supports the British as rulers). Emma has to work really hard doing chores such as churning butter, making cheese, sewing, spinning cloth, cleaning, etc. While the British and colonists build up to battles, Aunt Harmony house turns into housing for a British general, General Burgoyne. Emma puts her ear to the floor of her second story bedroom to overhear General Burgoyne’s strategies. She takes this useful information, writes it in code and puts it in button forms, hands it over to her fisherman friend Amos, and he in turn hands it over to American generals. This helps the American side prepare for a battle, and though it did help prevent some deaths, Emma feels guilty for a lot of Americans dying. In the end, the British leave Boston, and Emma is reunited with her family again.
This is an interesting piece of historical fiction in the form of a journal. Marissa Moss notes at the back of the book that she read a lot of primary sources, especially womens’ and girls’ diaries, to help understand the role of women back in the colonial times. Emma is a composite character of these women and girls who helped spy for the American side. The bravery and cunning that it took to gain freedom from the British is astonishing. It is great to read how females helped win independence from Great Britain because when I was in school, I never heard of women being heroes. The only woman that I remember hearing about during the Revolutionary War was Betsy Ross. Even though this is historical fiction, it opens up a dialogue about primary sources and women in the war.
Genre: historical fiction
Reading level/interest level: Tweens
Similar books/materials:
Reader’s advisory notes:
i. personal thoughts: This is an informative read. It’s intriguing to me that women and girls had so much to do with the war effort back in the Revolutionary War.
ii. subjects/themes: family, war, national identity, diaries
iii. awards:
iv. series information:
v. character names/description: Emma, ten years old, leaves her family to live with her Aunt Harmony, helps spy for the Americans; Aunt Harmony, owns a home in Boston, is a proud supporter of the Americans, fights for fair prices for goods; Thankful Bliss, Aunt Harmony’s border, she doesn’t do much work around the house, she falls in love and marries a British supporter; Amos, a fisherman and American soldier, becomes Emma’s crush as they work together to fight against the British, he sends Emma’s spy messages to the appropriate American generals.
vi. annotation: Emma is a ten-year-old spy for the Americans during the Revolutionary War. Even girls can be heroes.
Emma is a ten-year-old girl who lives in Menetomy during colonial times. She lives with her family, but she is being sent to Boston to help out her Aunt Harmony. Her aunt doesn’t have a servant girl to help her, so Emma is being sent to go to Boston alone. When she gets there, she lives with Aunt Harmony, a very demanding woman, and Thankful Bliss, one of her aunt’s borders. Aunt Harmony is a Whig (a colonist who supports colonial independence from the British), and Thankful is a Tory (a person who supports the British as rulers). Emma has to work really hard doing chores such as churning butter, making cheese, sewing, spinning cloth, cleaning, etc. While the British and colonists build up to battles, Aunt Harmony house turns into housing for a British general, General Burgoyne. Emma puts her ear to the floor of her second story bedroom to overhear General Burgoyne’s strategies. She takes this useful information, writes it in code and puts it in button forms, hands it over to her fisherman friend Amos, and he in turn hands it over to American generals. This helps the American side prepare for a battle, and though it did help prevent some deaths, Emma feels guilty for a lot of Americans dying. In the end, the British leave Boston, and Emma is reunited with her family again.
This is an interesting piece of historical fiction in the form of a journal. Marissa Moss notes at the back of the book that she read a lot of primary sources, especially womens’ and girls’ diaries, to help understand the role of women back in the colonial times. Emma is a composite character of these women and girls who helped spy for the American side. The bravery and cunning that it took to gain freedom from the British is astonishing. It is great to read how females helped win independence from Great Britain because when I was in school, I never heard of women being heroes. The only woman that I remember hearing about during the Revolutionary War was Betsy Ross. Even though this is historical fiction, it opens up a dialogue about primary sources and women in the war.
Genre: historical fiction
Reading level/interest level: Tweens
Similar books/materials:
Reader’s advisory notes:
i. personal thoughts: This is an informative read. It’s intriguing to me that women and girls had so much to do with the war effort back in the Revolutionary War.
ii. subjects/themes: family, war, national identity, diaries
iii. awards:
iv. series information:
v. character names/description: Emma, ten years old, leaves her family to live with her Aunt Harmony, helps spy for the Americans; Aunt Harmony, owns a home in Boston, is a proud supporter of the Americans, fights for fair prices for goods; Thankful Bliss, Aunt Harmony’s border, she doesn’t do much work around the house, she falls in love and marries a British supporter; Amos, a fisherman and American soldier, becomes Emma’s crush as they work together to fight against the British, he sends Emma’s spy messages to the appropriate American generals.
vi. annotation: Emma is a ten-year-old spy for the Americans during the Revolutionary War. Even girls can be heroes.
February 22, 2017
I adore these books, three in a series of diaries of young girls at milestones in American history. The voice feels authentic, and the small drawings and doodles help young readers understand jargon and add interest. I wish there were more of these.
September 2, 2012
I think this book can be a little confusing for children to understand. Emma is lonely living with her aunt and being separated from her family during the spark of the American Revolution. Her companion in this story is an affluent young woman so-named Thankful. I think that it is difficult for students to understand that Thankful is not a real person, but a figment character of Emma's imagination who represents the abstract feeling of being thankful. However, I did enjoy how the book was filled with little doodles. The book was in diary format with child-like handwriting which makes it seem real. I also liked this book because Emma was confused as to what was really happening around her and asked questions in her diary about the conflict between Americans and the British. This allows for students to find the answers to these questions by reading more of Emma's journal. It is a great way to learn about the American Revolution and makes it more understandable to students because the viewpoint of the event is from a child.
September 25, 2016
This is a very sweet and interesting journal of ten-year-old Emma Millar from July 1774 through July 1776. Emma is happy on her family's farm, but is sent to Boston to help her aunt at her boarding house. Emma is initially excited to see the city, but soon tires of her aunt's endless list of chores. The main focus of this book, however, is the beginnings of the American Revolution and America's fight for freedom. Emma is determined to find a way to help the Sons of Liberty and to possibly even save some lives of those fighting for America's independence, including her father and her three older brothers.
Although this is a short, historical fiction book aimed at younger readers, I found it very informative and entertaining. The book points out that women and girls did what they could, as well, to win the war against the British.
Although this is a short, historical fiction book aimed at younger readers, I found it very informative and entertaining. The book points out that women and girls did what they could, as well, to win the war against the British.
March 20, 2022
This was a reread of mine from childhood, and it was great. I have read all of the books from the Young American Voices series, as well as most of Marissa Moss's work. I have read her books since sections appeared in American Girl magazine years ago. I love the diary epistolary format, paired with the drawings and doodles. This book is the story of a young girl growing up during the American Revolution and has viewpoints of people on both sides of the war. She goes to live with her aunt in the city, and deals with a Tory boarder at her aunt's house, an officer quartering in the same house, and not having news from her family, including her father and brothers who are fighting on the side of the colonists. I love these books and recommend them highly to elementary school students.
August 19, 2014
This is very interestingly written. For one thing: I loved Amelia's Notebooks. Kids would need background knowledge to understand certain events. That's why it would be perfect as a novel group when studying about the Revolution.
One thing I did not like was the cousin, Thankful. Why is one cousin working like a slave and another one just sitting around? Wouldn't an Aunt who spouts proverbs all the time make sure the work was divided evenly? Maybe I missed something and need to go back and reread.
One thing I did not like was the cousin, Thankful. Why is one cousin working like a slave and another one just sitting around? Wouldn't an Aunt who spouts proverbs all the time make sure the work was divided evenly? Maybe I missed something and need to go back and reread.
November 1, 2014
gr 3-5 unpaginated
1774-1776, Boston, MA. Sent from her family farm in Menetomy to help keep her aunt, 10 year old Emma writes about her experiences living in Boston while it is under blockade. She writes how she is forced to tolerate her aunt's boarder a girl named Thankful, who is a Tory and is constantly at odds with both Emma and her aunt.
1774-1776, Boston, MA. Sent from her family farm in Menetomy to help keep her aunt, 10 year old Emma writes about her experiences living in Boston while it is under blockade. She writes how she is forced to tolerate her aunt's boarder a girl named Thankful, who is a Tory and is constantly at odds with both Emma and her aunt.
March 9, 2015
An interesting and informative book, geared toward young readers, but entertaining enough for adult readers. Emma is a likeable character who works hard and tries to help out in any way she can the fight against the British Army.
February 26, 2009
Not as good as the other books by Marrissa Moss.
June 24, 2009
I love the Marissa-Moss-Amelia's-Notebook type of things. I got this book from a trip to Valley Forge, in a gift shop.
May 24, 2013
it was OK. to me it sounded like the author didn't know much about that time period. :-[
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews