Emily of New Moon trilogy book covers and book cover art

      Ana at Things Mean Alot book blog has a fantastic post up today about the Emily of New Moon trilogy by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery: Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs, and Emily's Quest.  Ana gives a in-depth review of the three books that I want to share with you all because Ana shows just why these books were ahead of their time, in how Emily is portrayed, and the choices she makes.  When I read the books as a child - they are among my favourite books growing up - I loved them because Emily stays with her dream of writing.  Ana shows how this still makes the books strong reading for girls today, almost 100 years later. The cultural values versus art and the freedom to choose one's destiny, a powerful message even today.  Maybe always, for women, and for artists and creative endeavors.  Her post also shows why some day I expect to see all her posts collected in a book  - and which I will buy, to go back over and reread and learn something every time.  

What hit home to me too, other than Ana's powerful, thoughtful review  were the covers of the new Vintage editions of the books on her post.  They are delightful.  I wouldn't mind getting a copy of these to have on my shelf.  But as I was looking at them, I very much wanted to show to Ana the editions of the books that I read when I was a girl, growing up.  These covers made such a strong imprint on me that to me, they are the covers of Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs, and Emily's Quest.  So, here they are:

                                                      

 I'm sorry for the covers, they are the best I can find online.   I do not have copies now to take pictures myself for you.  Looks like I will be buying some now, these have evoked such a strong memory in me today.
  
What I wanted to say was how powerful the memory is with these covers associated with these books for me.  I read these books when I was young, about 12 and 13 years old.  I loved them fiercely, and Emily was  a role model for me in my own struggles to believe in myself as a writer and to not give up. Her struggles were my struggles, though ironically Emily Starr had much for belief in herself which I am only now recovering for myself.

 In today's world, with kobo and e-readers, I wonder how much we will remember of books we read online, in 10 or 20 years' time because of the lack of presence of the book, including especially the cover.  For me, a book is associated with smell, texture, colour, the cover, the art on the cover,  the pages, the feel of the pages, the print size - everything that goes into making that book, touches all five of my senses.  It is a real physical experience for me to read.

 I have a kindle e-reader finally installed on my computer, and have 4 books on it now to read,  that aren't available in any other form.  I am learning how to read on my e-reader, though I have to remember that I have books on my computer, which I still don't often do.   I do have to say though, that I think I am realizing because of the e reader that I need that physical presence of the book, the feel of it, the weight of it, in my hands, to make it become a part of me.

 I really want to talk about book covers, and book art, and how much they matter in how a book impacts on us as readers.  I have to admit here that a book cover does affect if I will buy a book or not.  I have bought books in spite of the cover, because I desperately wanted to read them, but an element of pleasure is missing because I don't enjoy the cover.  I am always relieved when I can find the book in a cover I like and can replace the ugly one!  It might be me, but that's how I am with books.  There is an intense pleasure I have with them, and these striking 1970's art covers from McLelland and Stewart are covers that are indelibly imprinted on my mind.  They and Emily go together for me.

So the cover, the art on the front cover, is a part of the book experience.  I wonder what the changes in the covers mean over the years?  Just googling Emily of New Moon book covers was eye-opening.  There have been so many different editions of the Emily books, and each cover reveals something of what the publisher thought would appeal to readers of that day.  It is quite eye-opening to see the changes.  One day I might do a post about the cultural changes revealed, but it's late already, and I think I want to do a better post when I am not so late at night.  Or maybe Ana could do another brilliant post on such a topic.....

Do you have book art that affects you this way?  Do you respond to the covers of books?  Does it matter which edition you read?  And do you have childhood favourites, or favourite books in general, that you must have in a certain edition?  I'm really curious how the experience of reading and books and cover art affects you, so please let me know in the comments, or better yet, write a post, and let me know.  I'd love to know if I am the only one who gets pleasure out of looking at the covers of books as well as reading them. 

PS If anyone knows who the artist is who did these covers, I'd love to know.  I've tried looking and no information is available. 

A very long time ago on this blog, I posted about the first book in the series, Emily of New Moon, here, when I reread for the Canadian Book Challenge.

Weekly Geeks #3 and Emily of New Moon

Dewey has put as this week's challenge, that we write about our fond memories of our childhood books. I will do a longer post about my favourites while growing up, but for today, I thought I'd combine a post about one of my favourite books as a child with a review of it for the Canadian Book Challenge.
Emily of New Moon is by Lucy Maud Montgomery, one of the most famous Canadian authors we have ever produced. The Emily books consist of three books: Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs, and Emily's Quest. They cover her ages from 10 to around 18 (I think. I don't have a copy of Emily's Quest on hand to check. But she is able to support herself at the end of the books!) While Emily Starr and LM Montgomery's more famous character Anne Shirley of Green Gables share flights of fancy, strong characterization, and wonderful settings, where they differ is that Emily knows from almost the beginning that she is going to be a writer. I loved Anne, but just as much I loved Emily Starr and her books. Emily was the first character I met, as a child, who knew they were going to be a writer when they grew up. Harriet the Spy was a spy (even though she wrote), and everyone else I read were either going to be nurses or teachers. Emily had to write, and part of the delight of her books is seeing her developing writing skill - we get to read her childish poetry, her first letters to her dead father, her growing sense of how to use words to capture the magic of the landscape around her.

As always, the book is set in PEI, but nearer the water - Blair Water is the nearest village, and New Moon is the name of the family farm that Emily comes to live at, after her parents die. She lives with her middle-aged single aunts, Elizabeth and Laura, and Cousin Jimmy (who is really her uncle), who had an accident as a child and is considered 'simple' as a result. Emily of New Moon is about Emily and her relatives getting to know one another, much as Anne and Marilla and Matthew in Anne of Green Gables spend the first book getting to know each other as well. At the end of Emily of New Moon, like Anne of GG, Emily knows she is going to stay - she and Aunt Elizabeth have reached a kind of understanding of each other, and recognize the importance of the other in their lives. Again, much like Anne and Marilla. But there the similarity really ends. While both are series of children, Anne is in love with the world around her, and the books are about her adventures as she grows up. Emily is focused on writing early, and so what we see is PEI through the eyes of writer. This means Emily wonders from an early age about why people are the way they are, and she has an eye for seeing the truth of people that comes out delightfully in her descriptions that she either thinks to herself, or writes. There is the requisite best friend - in this book, Ilse is the neglected one and nearly as magnetic in personality as Emily, unlike the slightly wimpy and so sweet Diana of Green Gables, and early on the boys show a definite liking for Emily. She is magnetic, and affects everyone around her, and they react to her just as strongly. This is a fascinating study of people, and I never tire of Montgomery's amazing ability to capture a person with just a few words. In this book also, Emily and her friends are going to be someone when they grow up - Emily a writer, Teddy a painter, Ilse a speaker, and Perry the premier of the province. It is fun to see these dynamic characters become friends, and how they relate to one another as they grow up.

Emily is a character who her father says 'loves deeply' and feels things passionately, which gives the novel its momentum and makes the book almost unputdownable. In fact, I know have to go and buy the next two in the series so I can finish it soon! Emily has a temper also, and this lands her in trouble. The difference is that Anne tries to be good, whereas Emily tries to be right. Daily life is described in detail on the New Moon farm. One interesting thing I discovered, was that my reading earlier this year of The Settler's Handbook by Catherine Parr Traill, gave me the knowledge to see New Moon clearly for the first time - Aunt Elizabeth is old-fashioned, so as Jimmy says when they arrive, the farm is farmed '50 years back', which sets it around 1850-1860. There was the dairy room, where the milk was skimmed and cream lifted, there was the larder, the cook room set away from the main kitchen. It was fascinating to read about the ice house, and to be able to understand that Montgomery was writing about a real farm, as it was in Canada at that time period. And, I imagined the scene Emily describes, as something I would have found at my own great-great-grandparents farm in southern Ontario!

This book is sweet and funny, and terribly moving. I don't know what it is about L.M. Montgomery's writing, but she can make me cry and laugh in almost the same moment. Imagine my horror when last week, reading Emily of New Moon on the bus, I found myself crying as her father dies!!! And I was very glad that I read the last part of the book at home, in which Emily nearly dies and solves a long-standing mystery in an uncanny way of her own. I wept and wondered that I, 44 years old, could cry over a children's book that I know almost by heart! But that is the beauty and wonder of Lucy Maud Montgomery's writing, for me.

If you haven't read about Emily of New Moon yet, then I highly recommend this book. I love it as much now as I did as a child. And yes, I'm still trying to be a writer! So in its quiet way, this book is encouragement for anyone who has a dream.