Emma’s Rug by Say, Allen

Title: Emma’s Rug

Author: Say, Allen

Illustrator: Allen Say

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Year 1996

Comments

I decided that I wanted to read as many of Allen Say’s books as possible. He is very prolific, so I started another blog. I didn’t want to fill this one more than I had, too. Anyway, out of the 6 or so books I read of Allen Say’s books in the past week, I wanted to talk about this one the most. This is an artist’s book. If you ever wanted to take a peek inside someone’s head, this is the book. I wish this book was around when I was growing up. It would have helped me understand where some of my stories came from. Emma gets a rug as a baby gift. She never sat on this rug but it was her source of inspiration for all of her art. She wins all sorts of awards for her painting and drawing. She even is invited by the mayor to a special art show. One day her mother washes her rug. Emma is crushed. She spends days without drawing. Eventually she throws everything away. Over time she finds that her creativity didn’t come from her rug, it came from her. Say’s beautiful watercolors tell this story; the narration just aids the illustrations.