Emily's Runaway Imagination

Emily's Runaway Imagination by Bevery Cleary is a good story. Emily is a girl who lives on a farm. She had some wild ideas. She wanted her father's horse to turn into a snow-white steed so, she tried to bleach it with Clorox. One of her good ideas was to set up a library in her town. I liked this story because it made me laugh. It's fun to read about crazy things kids do. The author wrote a realistic fiction to show us how to have crazy ideas. She also wanted us to see that we should not always do the crazy things that pop into our head!

Emily Bartlett just wants a library. So, her mother writes in for one, and guess what! Pitchfork is going to have a library! While waiting for the books to arrive from Salem, Emily feeds the hogs a treat, bleeches a horse, and scares her cousin half to death. Mama doesn't really know how Emily can get into so much trouble, she just says "Emily, don't let your imagination run away with you!" Emily does try, but hey, if you live in the west, during a time when cars are new, airplanes are hardley ever seen, and no one has dreamed up the TV yet, what are you supposed to do?

I just reread this book as a teacher/adult. I read it as a child almost twenty years ago, I liked it back then too. Very sweet and humorous. It is a great picture of Americana with Grandpa's automobile, Sunday after-church picnics, and party-line telephones! And then the pigs with the rotton apples during Mama's elegant party. Terrific!! I can see the characters in my grandparents.Great way to remind children to get outside and play or read instead of sitting in front of the television. How did we survive with out video games? The computer? Wonderful to read aloud for quality time.Beverly Cleary was my favorite author as a child. Now as a teacher and parent, I get to share her books with a new generation.

Ok, I'm a late bloomer. I've just discovered Beverly Cleary in my middle-age and did I pick the right book to start with! Emily is a charming child, and I'm quickly discovering how Ms. Cleary can really "think like a child". Emily's adventures are always questionable but always fun!

I will never forget this book. I read it in elementary I am 28 now. Everytime I hear the word imagination I think of Emily. I will never forget her trying to Clorax a horse. Many other things I read or see somewhere else remind me of this book. I was hooked on Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume books growing up. Some books I read do not exist anymore. Instead of reading Sweet Valley High I was hooked on Canby Hall books. Christoper Pike got me into mystery thriller stories until he got too much into the vampire stuff which I was not interested in at the time. I have looked up the books I read when I was older and they were no longer being printed. I am glad to find out my kids can still get Cleary and Blume books almost 30 yrs after they were written.