Emily Umily

Ellen Pilon is a library assistant in the Patrick Power Library at Saint
Mary’s University in Halifax.

Emily Umily is Kathy Corrigan’s first publication. Emily, a little girl of five, is ready for kindergarten, but she would prefer not to go. Her mother insists, and Emily goes to school. For a few days, Emily keeps silent during “circle time,” when the children talk about their experiences or show things to the others. But then the teacher asks her to participate. “‘Um, I um,’ said Emily, ‘I got some new, um, sneakers. Um, um, they’re red.’” Inevitably the children make fun of Emily’s “ums,” and circle times for Emily rapidly deteriorate. During Christmas break, Emily joins her mother at exercise class where she learns a chant: “UMMMMMMMM.” Emily is delighted: she shows the relaxing exercise and chant to the other children at school and is a success. After all, it is her word.

Vlasta van Kampen’s illustrations for the book are superb: colourful, simple without being simplistic, expressive, and relevant to the story.

A picture appears opposite each page of text. Without the note on the back of the book — “unlike Emily, she [Kathy Corrigan] has only recently begun to stammer” — Emily’s speech problem appears as a nervous hesitation. The reader expects Emily to learn to cope with her nervousness and stop umming by the end of the book. The ums as speech impediment shed a completely different light on the story. With this theme, the book, which is well written and suitable for young readers as well as young listeners, is a good resource for giving a stammerer confidence and for teaching children to accept others as they are.