Gilbert’s Cake

At Hattie's house, there were four pairs of boots at the door. But there were five people in Hattie's family. It is Gilbert's seventh birthday. Hattie's parents and twin brother Flynn set off over the sand dunes to watch the waves. But Hattie knows a birthday is not a birthday without a cake... This deeply poignant story about celebrating a life ? even when that life was brief ? is both courageous and inspiring. Told from the heart by Emily Mir, with sensitive illustrations by Helen Nieuwendijk, Gilbert's Cake is a one-of-a-kind picture book that belongs on every bookshelf. AGES: 4 plus AUTHOR: Emily Mir's first baby, Gilbert, was stillborn in 2010. Two years later, Emily and her husband welcomed Gilbert's twin siblings into the world. As young children, the twins wanted a party, complete with balloons and a cake, to mark Gilbert's birthday, and though it was painful at first, an annual tradition began. After working with families who have experienced miscarriage and stillbirth, Emily was inspired to share her family's story of love, loss and pelicans in the story of Gilbert's Cake. Emily is a social worker who lives with her family in South Australia. Helen Nieuwendijk has studied painting, drawing and sculpture at art schools in South Australia and New York, holds a Masters in Visual Arts, and has taught at tertiary level as well as privately mentoring adults and children. The delight of picture books, however, has always captured Helen's fancy: reading, holding, collecting, enjoying them and now, illustrating them. Helen lives in South Australia. Gilbert's Cake is Helen's first picture-book.