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Tricycle Press, 2001
$14.95 hardcover
32 pages

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"I'm so impatient - like the S p r i n g."

Any day now, her baby sister or brother will be born. For the eager young narrator of Gem, this seemingly endless wait becomes inextricably linked with the beautiful, musical "gems" her neighbor Bluesy plays on his saxophone. Will the baby come today?

Emma Kallok, the young author of The Diary of Chickabiddy Baby, returns with her second published book. Now thirteen, she was eleven years old when she wrote Gem.

She again demonstrates a natural ear for her story. Playful typesetting and thoughtful word images convey a warm feeling of family security and the girl's cheerful, good-natured waiting; and if some of Kallok's images are cliche, others are refreshingly original.

More impressive is the easy sophistication of her plotting and detail. I'm not sure whose idea - hers or artist Joel Bower's - it was to depict this family as racially mixed and never to mention it in writing, but the subtlety is inspired. (On the other hand, playing the saxophone in a hospital seem questionable.)

Joel Bower's illustrations are stylized yet full of character. Bluesy, particularly, has a most interesting face and I wish Bower had not done so many pictures of him using the same pose.

Waiting for the birth of a new brother or sister is a common topic, yet always current. Kallok's quiet picture book handles it well.

Dust jacket art by Joel Bower; used courtesy of Tricycle Press.

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