Kindness is something we could use a little more these days.  We want our children to be surrounded by kindness and generosity.  2020 Forest of Reading Blue Spruce nominated title, Emma’s Gems by Anne Renaud and Leanne Franson is a beautiful story about remembering to be generous and kind.

Emma likes to travel around with change jingle jangling around in her pocket, just like Grandpa Phil.  She soon discovers that along with the change in his pocket, Grandpa Phil keeps a few pebbles in his right pocket as a reminder to be kind and generous.  He calls them his generosity gems. When he remembers to do something kind he moves a pebble from his right pocket to his left. He inspires Emma to keep some generosity gems of her own.

Anne Renaud gives children a concrete example of how to remember to be kind.  When we can carry around little reminders in our pockets it helps children remember to make kindness and giving a habit.  Kindness is not something for which we need to keep a tally. No one gets the most points for being the kindest on any given day, but when we can make a habit of doing three small things a day to make the world a little bit happier, cleaner, or kinder perhaps we will lead by example and our kindness will be paid forward.

Leanne Franson’s illustrations are spectacular.  They are lovely, bright and colourful, jumping right off the page and making the reader want to create generosity gems of their own.  Why not try it with your readers. Collect a few small pebbles and decorate them, make them shiny and special and keep them around as a reminder to be kind to each other.  Our favourite place to go searching for pebbles is the beach, do you have a favourite place? Make a whole day of it. For those learning the French language, you are in luck since Emma’s Gems was first published in French under the title Les pierres d’Emma.