Wendy Kesselman

I liked this book because it used simple language to show a big idea. The big idea in this story is that it is okay to be alone sometimes and to do what makes you happy. In the story, Emma is an older woman who is by herself most of the time. Her family comes to visit her sometimes but they don't stay too long. The majority of the time Emma is lonely and the only company she has is her cat, Pumpkinseed. When she is by herself she likes to think about the village she grew up in and watch the snow come up to her doorstep. Her her 72nd birthday, Emma's family bought her a painting of the village she grew up in. Emma told her family she likes it a lot and hangs it on her wall, but it actually makes her sad because it doesn't look like the town she grew up in at all. One day, Emma decides to paint a picture of what her town actually looked like and hangs it up in replacement of the picture her family gave her. Whenever he family comes over she put the picture they gave her back up on the wall except one day she forgets to. Her family isn't mad and even asks to see more of her paintings. Her family loves all of her paintings and people from all over the country eventually come to start seeing them. I believe that the character of Emma is believable because older people tend to be by themselves a lot and get lonely. Their children grow up and have families of their own and they are all alone. The book says Emma is lonely a lot when the text says, "So most of the time Emma was all alone. And sometimes she was very lonely." I also really like the illustrations in this text. The illustrator clearly marks on Emma's face when she feels lonely and when she's happy.… (mere)