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Synopsis
Poor Emily. She doesn't mean to be loud, but whenever she says anything in her Emily voice, plates shatter, neighbors are astonished, and birds are frightened right out of the trees. It seems like there's nowhere she fits in. Until the day she sees a ship with a sign that reads: LOUD HELP NEEDED. NOW. So Emily sets sail for an adventure on the high seas, where perhaps there is a place for her after all...
Children's Literature
Emily-not meaning to be loud-disturbs, embarrasses, disgusts, and shakes up the world around her in some most unusual ways. While the text reveals some her calamities, it's truly the illustrations that stretch this story to the fullest level of picture book status. Using crackled-look paintings, reminiscent of the 19th Century American paintings-and-portraits, the illustrator integrates humor into what is a very serious problem for Emily and for her socialite parents. Literally a whale-of-a-tale, the author sends the reader along with Emily to the sea. It's there that Emily grows and in the end is recognized for her greatness in character, rather than for her loud voice.