Emma Dilemma and the New Nanny - Hardcover

Author Patricia Hermes has lots of ideas for Emma’s dilemmas after raising five children of her own. She lives in Fairfield, Connecticut, and is a frequent speaker at schools and conferences around the country.

Illustrator Abby Carter has drawn all of her life. When she was eleven, she and her grandmother had a card business: Abby drew, and her grandmother sold. In college she studied art, but also liked science and nutrition, and wished there was a way to combine it all. Several years later, after she was married and had a daughter, she and her husband founded Fresh Samantha, the juice company, which fulfilled that dream. In addition to her graphics for Fresh Samantha, she has illustrated many picture books and chapter books for children. She says that she loves to draw odd characters, and hates to draw straight lines. Abby lives with her husband and two children in Connecticut.

Grade 2-4 Mishaps of one sort or another seem to find Emma O'Fallon. Quite often they center on her pet ferret, Marmaduke, who frequently escapes his cage (or isn't put there) and disappears in the house. After finding the creature inside her mattress, Emma's mother threatens to take him back to the pet store unless her daughter shows more responsibility. Another worry for Emma is the possibility that her parents will not let her be on the Under Nine soccer team for the same reason. Then a new nanny, Annie O'Reilly, joins the household to help care for the five O'Fallon children, and Emma immediately knows she will have an ally in the lively young woman. The child accidentally burns Annie's passport, and the two of them have an adventure with a locked door, ladder, and second-floor window, but everything works out in the end. Emma is reminiscent of many lively heroines in children's literature, Ramona and Junie B. Jones among them; she goes about living in her own way and in her own style. An enjoyable early chapter book. Terrie Dorio, Santa Monica Public Library, CA
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