Emily loves to paint. She’s good at mixing shades, and at putting colors side by side in such a way that they don’t run into each other. Her paintings are special, too – she doesn’t just paint what she sees, but what she perceives. In a picture of her family, she put four mommies – not that she really has four mommies, but her mom is so busy, it seems like she’s everywhere at once. Art feels like a part of who Emily is.
When the announcement is made at school that an art contest will be held, Emily gets very excited. She picks a picture of her dog to be her exhibit. In this picture, his ears are extra big, because he’s so good at hearing.
As the judge (chosen because her cousin was married to an artist) walked along the exhibit, looking at each painting, she really seemed to like Emily’s painting, and proclaimed it the best picture of a bunny she’d ever seen. When it was explained to her that it really was a picture of a dog, the judge became very upset. It seems that a dog ripped her dress once, a long time ago, and she hasn’t been able to stomach dogs ever since. She awarded the grand prize to someone who had painted a picture of a butterfly.
Emily was so upset. How could the judge like her best one minute, and hate her the next? She ran out to the playground and buried her picture under some leaves. She would never, ever paint again. The disappointment grew into a pain in her heart, and she went in to the nurse.
The little girl who won the contest was there. She only knew how to draw because Emily taught her, and the stress was starting to get to her, too. After talking it over, Emily felt better, and she knew she’d keep painting.
I liked this book because it shows that taste is truly subjective. One page even asks the question, how do you decide which is better: pink or purple, chocolate or vanilla? Everyone sees things differently, and we shouldn’t let someone else decide for us what we should think, and we certainly shouldn’t let one critic determine what our goals and dreams should be.
(This book was published in 2001 by Atheneum Books and was illustrated by the author.)
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