Emily of the Wild Rose Inn

Wild Rose Inn #3

by Jennifer Armstrong

Emily MacKenzie is content spending her days sailing and working at the Wild Rose Inn with Lucy, her best friend and adopted sister. The rift between the North and South is growing, but Emily has never given much thought to the troubling social issues of the day, nor to the dangerous work of the Underground Railroad in her own town.

But conflict ensnares Emily when the Stockwells, a wealthy southern family, come to stay at the Inn with their slave, Moses. Emily knows in her heart that slavery is wrong, and wishes she could help Moses. But her growing feelings for Blount, the Stockwells' son, hold her back. By helping Moses, she would betray Blount, but taking Blount's side would compromise her values and destroy her heartfelt friendship with Lucy, a free black. Can Emily find the strength to do what must be done?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Romance, Childrens, Historical, Fiction, Teen

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Jennifer Armstrong learned to read and write in Switzerland, in a small school for English speaking children on the shores of Lake Zurich. The school library had no librarian and no catalog – just shelves of interesting books. She selected books on her own, read what she could, and made up the rest. It was perfect. As a result, she made her career choice – to become an author – in first grade. When she and her family returned to the U.S. she discovered that not all children wrote stories and read books, and that not all teachers thought reading real books was important. Nevertheless, she was undaunted. Within a year of leaving college she was a free-lance ghost writer for a popular juvenile book series, and before long published her first trade novel, Steal Away, which won her a Golden Kite Honor for fiction.

More than fifty additional novels and picture books followed, and before long she also tried her hand at nonfiction, winning an Orbis Pictus Award and a Horn Book Honor for her first nonfiction book, Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World. In late 2003 she will travel to the South Pole with the National Science Foundation to do research for a book on ice.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in my youth. My aunt was a teacher and bought it through her school's book fair because my name is Emily and she thought I'd like it. I LOVED it but not for that reason. I loved that Emily was so strong-willed and yet so loving and compassionate. I loved that she fell in love with a boy who, for all intents and purposes, was from another planet in regards to his upbringing and way of thinking. I so desperately wanted them to find a common ground or for Blount to do a 180 and change his viewpoints. I felt that the ending, though sad, was appropriate and fitting. I can see it on my bookshelf right now and I may be compelled to read it a dozen more times.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remember those scholastic book fairs at public schools? This was one of those purchases. I read it a dozen times one summer at my aunt's house. That tells you how much fun that summer was. Emily comes of age hiding runaway slaves in the underground railroad. I'm so glad I was surrounded by such good literature as girl.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

good--sad ending--great story