Sweet, old-fashioned book harkening back to times gone by. Bit embarrassed by how many children's books I have on my shelves but there's nothing like picking up an old favorite to escape for a few hours. One's appreciation for this book, I think, depends on whether you can identify and relate with Emily, or want to make her over into a girl of stronger stuff. I like her, though, and appreciate how her character develops throughout this story.

Re-reading one of my favorite MHL books thanks to the reissue of this title.
11/2/10 I finished this last night and loved it just as much as I did when I first read it 50 years ago. Then I was reading my sister's copy, which I still own, but this time I read the reissue of this title by HarperCollins - Thanks Jennifer Hart!

May 2016 - time for a re-read of one of my favorite BT series books by Maud Hart Lovelace for this Memorial Day.

Named for her mother “Emily Clarke Webster. Born 1835, died 1904. She hath done what she could,” our heroine’s story centers on her “‘program of self-improvement’...to muster my wits in my own defense…First, you’re a schoolgirl in a hair ribbon; then, a pretty young lady at a dance, and now an earnest student of sociology.”

“‘Education then was just beginning and was to last through a long lifetime of eager, wide and absorptive culture until death itself.’ Emily wrote down that phrase, ‘eager, wide and absorptive culture.’ ‘That’s what I’m going to try for,’ she thought…‘Distinction!’ Emily thought. What a beautiful word!”

While all of her classmates set off for college, however, Emily must care for her aging grandfather. She confronts a crossroads of the soul: “There doesn’t seem to be anything in my future, so I’m clinging to the past. But I can’t stop living. I can’t tie up my life like Chinese women do their feet. I’ve got to go on somehow…There’s just one thing to do in a situation like this,’ Emily decided. ‘It’s to go home!’...Behold I will build me a nest on the greatness of God.”

“‘Lean on me,’ said Emily. ‘I have broad shoulders…I have a backbone, and a good stiff one, too.” Inspired by “A woman [who] has awakened the social conscience of this generation,” Emily establishes “the Hull House of Deep Valley…Jane Addams invited the poor and the lonely and the strange right into her house in order to help them, and you’re doing the same.”

“Planted seeds produce a garden that requires tending. And all her desperate efforts to find self-expression were sprouting into demanding growths…Emily could feel her stature rising–like Jack’s beanstalk! It was astonishing, but not so astonishing as the way her own feelings had changed…I had expected it to be a lost year…It was just about the most wonderful year of my life!...That ‘lost year’ gave me a chance to…[find] myself.”

“She caught a glimpse of an attractive-looking girl and smiled, and the girl smiled, too, looking more attractive than ever. Emily saw, with amazement, that it was herself.” But “It’s inside I’ve changed most.”

This is probably my favorite of all of the Betsy-Tracy/Deep Valley books. Emily, a highly intelligent young woman, graduates from high school and must stay to care for her aging grandfather. She watches her classmates go off to college and feels isolated and stagnant. As she tentatively makes her way into her future, she “musters her wits” and finds ways to grow and form a slightly unconventional life for herself. Along the way, she draws the attention of a young history teacher, Jed Wakeman, and together they work for the inclusion of Syrian immigrants into the greater Deep Valley society. They also fall in love.

This might be my favorite one of Lovelace's books.

Emily is unlike Lovelace's other heroines. She's shy, reserved, intellectual, doesn't know how to dance, and doesn't go out with boys. Both of her parents died when she was young, and she lives with her grandfather. Because he's older and needs care, she's not able to go to college (which she desperately wants to do) when she graduates from high school. We follow Emily through this first year after high school graduation as she discovers that she can continue learning all of her life, and that she can do valuable work no matter where she is. This book is surprisingly timely, because the main work Emily finds is with a group of Syrian immigrants who live in Deep Valley. She accidentally becomes friends with two little Syrian boys, and through them their families, and then the greater Syrian community (Little Syria). She becomes their advocate, working to make them feel respected and welcome, as well as helping to establish classes that will enable them to become American citizens more quickly. Some of the interaction between characters in the book sounds like it came from last night's news rather than a situation over a hundred years ago. For example, when Emily goes before the school board to get permission to use the school for Americanization classes, the superintendent is opposed to the proposal and makes the following speech: "'I believe in America for the Americans,' he said explosively. 'I believe that immigration should be restricted. Restricted,' he repeated, pounding the table. And he began to pour out figures about the alarming increase in population. The flow of statistics, Emily observed, was impressing several board members. They scribbled them down and began to look worried" (p.256). Emily of Deep Valley is a more serious coming of age story than the the Betsy-Tacy books but is just as winsome and appealing. An added bonus -- Emily's final conversation with Don is perfectly done!

June, 2019
I just read this book with the kids and they loved it as much as I did. They loved Kahlil, Yusef, and Layla and cheered for Emily as she finally put Don in his place.

What a cozy read! I loved it!

This is an unassumingly brilliant book, filled with lovely stories for the introvert in your life.

Emily's life is not going the way she would like. She wants to go to college, have a social life, date her long-time crush. Instead, she is forced to watch her friends leave her small town, while she stays home to care for her ailing grandfather. In some ways, this is a Cinderella story but, in other ways, it is not. No fairy godmother comes, there is no castle ball, and no stepmother. Instead, there is a slice of life as it was and as it is.

I was amazed by how relevant it is today. It addresses immigration, education, equality, and growth. I absolutely loved the depth to Emily's character, the old friends, the lessons on growing up, the way Don gets pushed aside at the end, and the old-fashioned love of tradition. I highly recommend this book.

A nice old-fashioned story about making the best of the situation in which one finds oneself.

This book is probably the definition of a comfort read. Although initially more melancholy in tone than Lovelace's other works, Emily's story is inspiring for readers to read. Her loneliness when her friends go off to college after graduating high school while she stays home with her grandfather is likely relatable for many people who have ever felt left out or 'behind'.

However, I loved how she never treated her grandfather as a burden or held a grudge against him. In fact, he senses how lonely she is in the beginning of the story and wonders if she really should have gone to college with her friends. He is such a wonderful character and the ideal grandfather that anyone could have!

Emily's coming-of-age story was a pleasure to read as she grows more comfortable with herself and her decisions. She finds her footing and passions, mingling with other people of different age groups. My favorite part about Emily was that she was more of an old soul who seem to prefer talking to people a little older than her, because I am the same way. This doesn't mean that I don't have friends my own age, but like Emily, I often feel left out. This is why I'm glad she didn't end up with Don because in the end, he only cared for himself and didn't want to talk about anyone else. I feel bad for Annette and I wonder if her relationship with Don was successful or not.

I loved how the Syrian community of Deep Valley played a larger role in this book. Many of the conversations about immigration still ring true today! I loved how Emily and her grandfather became close friends with some of them, almost like second families. It definitely made the book stand out from the others in the Betsy-Tacy series. I'd like to think that after the board approved the idea of classes for the Syrians, they thrived and fit in more with the rest of the community, but only time will tell in that regard.

So anyways, it's pretty obvious to tell that I adored this book! Definitely one of Lovelace's best, even though all of her books are fabulous.

Much different in tone and subject than the rest of the Betsy-Tacy series, other than sharing a setting and some characters, Emily of Deep Valley stands alone (although I do think readers will better enjoy the book if they've read the rest of the series). Unlike popular, upper-middle-class Betsy and her charmed life, Emily is an orphan who lives with her elderly grandfather in a comfortable but quieter existence. The book starts in a drearier place than I expect from the Betsy-Tacy series, and it threw me at first.

Emily, a bookish girl who would like nothing more than to go to college, stays in Deep Valley after graduating from high school for the sake of her grandfather. While the decision initially bugged me, over the course of the novel and getting to know Emily, that choice made sense and led to a rather lovely tale of how, even when life doesn’t go according to one’s plans, we can still find a way forward and be active in plotting the course of our lives. The book also includes a wonderful, non-preachy message of acceptance that will likely resonate with modern readers.

Much as I love Betsy and her gang, there’s something sweet and endearing about Emily of Deep Valley. Now to track down some of Maud Hart Lovelace’s other novels. Highly recommended.

I checked this out to read Mitali Perkins's intro and the end biography bits on Vera Neville and Marguerite,and all of the above were wonderful. And then I couldn't not read the book, despite owning another copy. I seem to pull this out every few months when I need to re-muster my wits. Emily helps me so much.