Monday 17 May 2010

Emily the Travelling Guinea Pig

I was looking through my bookcase yesterday and I came across this, Emily by Emma Smith. I remember as a child I felt so special because I had a book that was named after me! Myself and my sister would often share our books and toys but this one book was so clearly mine. I'm not normally one for hoarding books. I have so many but none that I keep for years and years - this one, I've never been able to throw it away.
You can see I wrote my name in the front, 4M, Oaklands Junior School. So I must have been about 8 when I was given it. I don't have a clue who gave it to me. The words "From Charlotte" are also written in the front, but I don't know who Charlotte is! It was published in 1960, and when I looked it up on Amazon there was one copy, being sold for £65!
Emily was a guinea pig who woke up one morning and decided to go on an adventure. The book chronicles this adventure and also lets us know how her husband is getting on at home, fending for himself! At the end she gets homesick and decides to head home. Every so often there's these darling coloured pictures on glossy paper - I remember looking forward to those pages!

Of course I wasn't named after Emily the guinea pig - I was born in the 80s! But it was so lovely to have a namesake to make me feel special.
I was actually named after this girl, Anna, of Mr God, this is Anna. Ok, so my name is Emily, but my middle name is Anne, and I found out recently that my mum was reading this book when she was pregnant with me, so my middle name is in tribute to Anna - a young girl who has such childlike faith in God. It wasn't until last year that I actually read the book and was horrified to find that Anna dies at the end! (Sorry if you wanted to read it!) - but it is a beautiful book.

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