Emma's magic winter

Jean Little, 1932-

Book - 1998

With the help of her new friend who has magic boots just like her own, Emma overcomes her shyness and no longer hates reading out loud in school.

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Genres
Readers (Publications)
Published
New York : HarperCollinsPublishers 1998.
Language
English
Main Author
Jean Little, 1932- (-)
Other Authors
Jennifer Plecas (illustrator)
Physical Description
64 p. : ill
ISBN
9780060253905
9780613278058
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Gr. 1^-2. A Canadian writer of children's novels such as Look through My Window (1970), picture books such as Bats about Baseball (1995) and autobiographical titles such as Little by Little (1988), Little shows her sympathetic recall of childhood problems and feelings in this beginning reader. Emma may be too shy to speak up when she reads in class, but she finds that she has just enough gumption to befriend Sally, the new girl next door. The rewards of that friendship include a winter full of imaginative play centered around the girls' identical "magic" boots, the discovery that Emma's not too shy to read aloud to Sally's little brother, Josh, and Emma's final triumph as she conquers her fear and reads to the class. Best known for her illustrations of Pomerantz's The Outside Dog (1993), Plecas' expressive watercolor-washed ink drawings capture the nuances of the characters' feelings with simplicity and sensitivity. An appealing choice for beginning readers. --Carolyn Phelan

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review

K-Gr 3-An enjoyable, gentle story about making friends and overcoming fears. Emma is a painfully shy child who likes to read, but not out loud or in front of her class. After some nudging by her parents, she goes next door and introduces herself to her new neighbor, Sally. Emma comes up with the idea that their winter boots (they have identical pairs) are magical, and it almost seems that they are. Thanks to the boots, both girls overcome their awkwardness and become good friends. Many children will identify with these familiar childhood situations. The idea of magic boots will surely inspire some wintertime adventures. The easy-to-read text and bright, lively watercolor illustrations work together in perfect harmony. A magical selection in any season.-Dina Sherman, Brooklyn Children's Museum, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review

(Younger) Emma is too shy to speak above a whisper whenever it's her turn to read aloud before her class; too shy to make friends easily. But when a new girl her age moves in next door, Emma finds a way to connect: she instigates a shared pretend. "My boots have magic powers. They can make me vanish. They can even make me fly. Your boots look just like mine. Are yours magic too?" Together, Emma and Sally "vanish"-applying, as in all good fantasy, rules to how it works (the reason they can still see each other is that they are both invisible; it's OK that a baby can see them, because "babies know magic")-and pretend to be mountain climbers. Emma and Sally make a leap from the imagined magic of their play to the real magic and power of friendship when Sally's encouragement allows Emma finally to speak up when it's once again time to read aloud at school. This is Jean Little's first book for beginning readers, and she's a natural. Her prose flows easily, with touches of humor (Emma's father, encouraging her to go next door with a homemade pie to meet Sally, says, "Go for it, Emma. You can't be shy with a pie"), and soars into appropriate lyricism at the end. The shy young girl stumbling over reading is a familiar Jean Little character, but the emphasis here is on the friendship between the two girls, and on the true magic friendship can work. Like Katherine Paterson's Marvin's Best Christmas Present Ever, this "I Can Read" is about believable, con-temporary kids, with not a whiff of babyishness about it. With Jennifer Plecas's warm illustrations-which, by the by, cast Emma as white and Sally as African-American-Emma's Magic Winter is a book newly independent readers won't be at all shy about reading. m.v.p. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Several complicated issues for children are nicely resolved in Little's book, her first for the I Can Read series. Emma is shy, and she hates to read aloud in class. But when a new family moves in next door, Emma's mother sends her over with a pie to welcome them and to meet their daughter, Sally, who is Emma's age. Emma is frightened and doesn't know what to say, but she notices that Sally's winter boots are bright red, just like her own. Plucking up her courage, she tells Sally that their boots are magic. Both girls enter into the pretend game, and use the magic to make a snowpile into a mountain for climbing, or to make themselves""invisible."" When Sally joins Emma's class, she encourages Emma to use the boots to make her brave in reading aloud, and it works. Come spring, Emma's parents present her with a jump rope with red handles, just like Sally's, so the magic will go on. Clear watercolors fill the energetic lines of the illustrations, with their sweet round-headed figures: Emma's peach face with straight brown hair, and Sally's chocolate face surrounded by masses of curls. Shyness, friendship, and little brothers are all encountered and adroitly dealt with, as the girls move from winter ""into a magic spring. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.