Emma
Recommended. Age: 14+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Emma is a rich and clever young lady who loves to plan who her friends should marry. Her plans go wrong and people get hurt. She learns to be humble, to say sorry, and to be kind to people who have less than she does. This is a story about pride and the harm done by gossip and meddling. Emma is corrected by a true friend and takes the correction. Catholic reviewers place it in the high school years. Content is very mild. The difficulty is the old language and the slow, subtle humor.
For parents
Read aloud from about twelve. Independent reading from fourteen, which is the Catholic list's placement. Common Sense Media says 13+. Content is very mild: wine at parties and one roadside scare with thieves. Good Books for Catholic Kids says the book offers an education in the weaknesses and follies of human nature and a tribute to people's ability to change and grow. Ask: why does Emma think she knows what is best for Harriet? When Emma is unkind to a poorer woman, who tells her the truth, and how does she take it? What is the difference between gossip and real concern for a friend? Talk about fraternal correction, about humility, and about what the well-off owe to those with less.