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Editorial Review Product Description
In the second volume of the celebrated Emily trilogy, Lucy Maud Montgomery traces the often stormy course of Emily Starr’s life as she moves from the world of childhood into that of school and adolescence.
Emily Climbs unsentimentally reveals the world of the young as it really is – with its great moments of unalloyed wonder and joy, as well as its cruelty and suffering.
Along with Emily of New Moon and Emily’s Quest, Emily Climbs is a vivid, heartfelt portrait of youth and the road to maturity. ... Read more Customer Reviews (44) 
One of my favorite books!
This was a WONDERFUL sequel to the first Emily book. I honestly can't decide which book was better than the other.
Parts of the book are in diary form, while others are set in regular story form, so you get an all-around view of Emily's life. I like how the author weaved the two forms together.
I loved the storyline; it seems like very simple, little things that take place, but as you reflect on it, you realize the story is actually quite deep in thought, and well plotted. Emily is allowed to attend the Shrewbury school where her friends are going. However, the rule is that she must live with grumpy, old Aunt Ruth, who seemingly has stricter rules than Aunt Elizabeth did when Emily lived with her. And Aunt Ruth is always accusing Emily of being sly, which runs down Emily's patience.
During the time that Emily lives with her Aunt Ruth, she is not allowed to write fiction, which seems to put a damper on Emily's future career of writing. Her old teacher, who has helped guide her [Mr. Carpenter] says the time away from fiction will improve Emily's writing ability. Yet still, her wild, imaginative mind can hardly fathom being separated from her beloved hobby.
I am really anticipating the third and final Emily book now, to see how her story ends!
A strong continuation of an intriguing heroine's coming of age...
First introduced as an orphaned ten-year-old in "Emily of New Moon," this second book takes readers through Emily's high school years in neighboring Shrewsbury. As New Moon, the family farm where Emily has lived with aunts Elizabeth and Laura, and cousin Jimmy, is too far to commute each day, Emily is now forced to lodge with Aunt Ruth, a stern middle-aged woman with very particular habits and ideas of how Emily should speak and act.
Emily might be able to suffer through her aunt's daily gripes if it weren't for the promise she made to her other aunt -- that she will not write fiction during her stay in Shrewsbury. Though Emily's mind brims with ideas that her fingers itch to write, she is determined to keep her word to Aunt Elizabeth, no matter what it takes.
In this coming-of-age story, Montgomery also shows the changing and maturing of Emily's childhood friends -- the once tomboyish Ilse, now set on drama; artistic Teddy, struggling to break free of his possessive widowed mother; and poor orphaned Perry, determined to make something of himself as a lawyer.
If you enjoy this book, make sure to check out "Emily of New Moon," which first introduces the child Emily; and "Emily's Quest," the last book of the trilogy, which takes readers through Emily's young adulthood as she struggles to establish herself as a writer. While each book could, theoretically, stand alone (there are several occasions where Montgomery mentions events of the past books, which are indicated by a footnote) it's always best to get the full picture.
Emily out in the world
Emily is growing up, and growing ever more confident in her destiny as a writer. life is good at New Moon Farm Aunt Elizabeth has grown slightly more bearable and even seems to genuinely care for Emily (at times) Aunt laura, and cousin Jimmy are as loving and supportive as ever. even the pain of her fathers death is easing, and she finds her feelings for Teddy are changing into something more. but there is a problem Ilse, Teddy, and parry are going away to High School in Shrewsbury, and Emily is not to go. No New Moon women has ever worked for a living so there is no sense in higher education (says Aunt Elizabeth) But wait, there is one way Emily must agree to stop writing. Everything and anything not related to school work. It's a high price, but Emily knows her future as a writer hangs on this chance. Emily experiences life outside of new moon with her usuall wonder and passion, making even the mundain magical. All of Emily's feelings and experiences are as real and vividly emotional as they where in EONM . Emily Climbs is a very worthy continuation in the Emily Saga
Emily on her own
I began reading LM Montgomery at age 10, with Anne of Green Gables, as most girls do. But when I moved on to Emily, I truly fell in love. In fact, I spent my entire 10 year old savings on LM Montgomery books after reading Emily of New Moon.
Emily's school years are a difficult time, just as they are for any teenager. She has to constantly choose whether to be herself, or be who her family wants her to be. Even though the struggles may be different than those of modern girls, the theme is the same.
It breaks my heart that LM Montgomery books periodically go out of print. I encourage anyone who wants to own her books to get them when they see them, or they may have to wait a long time for them to come back into print.
Emily leaves New Moon for three years of high school at Shrewsbury
"Emily Climbs" is the middle volume of the Emily trilogy written by Lucy Maud Montgomery, which tells the story of the orphaned Emily Byrd Starr, a character much closer in temperament and vocation to the author than that of Anne Shirley.After all, Emily is an aspiring writer and learning her craft is a key thread in these stories.Written in 1925, "Emily Climbs" is set at the turn of the century in "the olden years before the world turned upside down" (to wit, the First World War).In her room in the old New Moon farmhouse at Blair Water, Emily is content to write in the books given her by Cousin Jimmy.These Jimmy-books have become her diary and have replaced the letters she had written in her childhood to her dead father. Excerpts from the diary are used to link together the various events in the book.
The problem is not only that Emily is trying to develop her writing talent on her won, but that as far as her guardian Aunt Elizabeth Murray is concerned, writing is beneath a member of the Murray clan, even if Emily's last name is Starr.So when Emily, who is becoming a young woman, wants to go to the high school in Shrewsbury with the rest of her friends, Aunt Elizabeth will give permission only if Emily stops writing fiction for three years.Although Emily needs to write the way most people need to breath, she agrees and takes another step in her climb to adulthood.To add insult to injury, Emily has to stay with her Aunt Ruth while going to school, in a room that she thinks will never be anything like a home for her.Obviously this is a recurring element in Montgomery's books, where the young female protagonist has to win over the sour older person, so we know that Aunt Ruth is going to thaw sooner or later and that Emily will turn the unfriendly room into a place where she can be happy.
Much of "Emily Climbs" is devoted to what happens while Emily is away at Shrewsbury, where she has to do both with the prospects of romance and an opportunity to limb even higher on the path to her dream of being a writer.Montgomery uses Emily journal entries, which are clearly non-fiction despite their often narrative nature, to great advantage to get into Emily's psyche and her growth during these three years away at school (although I would have liked to have actually read Emily's class prophecies).The supernatural element of Emily's second sight, which had a significant impact in the first novel, "Emily of New Moon," shows up a couple of times in this novel to help save a missing child and Emily herself. Consequently, this middle volume is more of a character study and a series of life lessons for Emily than anything else, setting up the final volume where she tries to publish her first novel and to figure out her love life as well.
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