Emily of New Moon

Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A delightfully sweet, gentle, lovely story of a orphaned girl who people can't help but love. Exactly the balm my soul needed right now. Emily is so sweet and smart and charming, it's no surprise that most people end up delighted by her. It's no surprise that her Aunt Laura loved her from the start - you could tell just by looking at her that she had a soft spot for Emily - but it was especially touching to see how her Aunt Elizabeth grew to love her as well, despite the fact that she hadn't wanted to care for her at first. They become the perfect parents for her.

I loved hearing about all of Emily's adventures, especially those with her friends Ilse, Teddy, and Perry. As close as those 4 are right now as children, I can already tell there might be trouble when they get older, and romantic feelings start becoming more pressing. I really hope they can all remain true, good friends, no matter who falls in love with whom.

Aunt Nancy seems like a character, and it was fun living in her world for a little bit. We don't really get to know much of the rest of the Murrays, other than how strict and disapproving of Emily they almost all are. I have a feeling in future books we'll get to know them more and more, and hopefully Emily will have the opportunity to charm them as well.

I have to take a moment to talk about Dean Priest. He's certainly an interesting character, and an important person in Emily's life. As she mentions, he's one of the few people who seems to understand her completely at a base level, like her father did, and as such she is completely comfortable with him. The thing about him that bothers me, though, is how he can, as a 36 year old adult man, look at 12 year old Emily and say to himself, "oh yes, in 12 years, that girl will be perfect for me. Don't kiss me now as a child kisses an older relative they are fond of, I want our first kiss to be one of romance." 😳 Uh. No. That's super weird. I get that older men often married younger women in the 1920s. But for a man to look at a child and mentally decide she would be perfect for him when she was old enough? That smacks so much of grooming, it's really creepy. I'm reaaaaallly hoping that Dean is not the one Emily falls in love with, since I'm sure she will fall in love with someone during this series.

As for teachers, this book as the perfect examples of how best to teach and encourage children, and now absolutely NOT to teach children. On the terrible end of the spectrum is Ms. Brownell, who played favorites, constantly ridiculed and mocked students, and focused on rote memorization. On the wonderful end of the spectrum is Mr. Carpenter, who not only made learning fun and natural for his students, he also paid attention to what their talents were, and nurtured them in the ways they specifically needed. The students he saw the most talent in are the ones he was strictest with, and when he saw potential, he was quick to intercede with that child's guardians, advocating for their best interests. We should all be so lucky to have such a caring teacher in our pasts.

I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of this series, which I'm guessing will cover Emily's teenage and young adult years. I can't wait to see her talent as a writer continue to develop, and watch as she works her way into the hearts of many more people. Anne will always be one of my favorites, but I'm being charmed by Emily as well.

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