hands

What Will These Hands Make? By Nikki McClure

| Tasha

What Will These Hands Make by Nikki McClure

What Will These Hands Make? By Nikki McClure (9781419725760)

A grandmother’s special birthday party brings together an entire community in this picture book. Celebrating what can be done with one’s hands and created for another person, this book looks at the power of using hands for kindness and creativity. An old sweater is made into a fish-shaped pillow, hands make the six-tier birthday cake, a blanket is woven, a wooden box whittled, bread is baked, and children are cared for. The party is prepared for by the family and community, the event is held, and the book closes with the quiet afterwards. 

McClure excels in all of her books in making small moments meaningful and impactful. Here, she does exactly that with making things with one’s hands. In her note at the end, she points out that the art for her books is done entirely by hand by cutting paper with an exacto knife. Her poetic text invites readers to think about all the ways they can use their hands to create something too. Her art is as lovely as always, remarkable in that it is cut paper creating the faces of characters and their world. She uses selective colors to create special moments like the grandmother’s white hair, the red sweater, and the deep browns of wood. The entire book is done on darker paper that evokes brown paper bags and wholegrain bread. 

Another delight of a book from a master artist. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy provided by Abrams Books for Young Readers.

Review: Loving Hands by Tony Johnston

| Tasha

loving hands by tony johnston

Loving Hands by Tony Johnston, illustrated by Amy June Bates (9780763679934)

This tender and moving picture book looks at the connection between parent and child from babyhood all the way through adulthood and old age. The book begins with pregnancy and birth, then moves on to the activities of toddlers and childhood like pat-a-cake and skinned knees. The book moves on to baking together, star gazing, and gardening. Full of simple pleasures, the child becomes an adult who visits home now and again. Until he returns to care for his mother and they watch the stars once again together.

First, I must tell you that the mother does not die at the end of the book. So the book stays hopeful and filled with warmth all the way through. The focus on hands is lovely, connecting the two of them through their activities and their loving touches. Johnston’s writing is superb, lifting the book up to something splendid and special. The verse in the book has a repeating rhythm and near rhymes that create beautiful moments on each page.

The artwork by Bates exudes warmth on the page. The characters are lit from within by their connection and love for one another. Each image captures that connection through body language and expressions.

A lovely book for mothers and children alike. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Henry’s Hand by Ross MacDonald

| Tasha

henrys hand

Henry’s Hand by Ross MacDonald

Get ready for a perfect non-Halloween Halloween book!  Henry is a monster who often loses bits and pieces of himself.  So every morning he goes through a little rhyme to make sure that all of his pieces are there.  Henry’s right hand was his favorite body part.  They played games together and traveled everywhere together.  Then Henry got lazy and started using his right hand to do all of the chores that he didn’t want to do himself.  Hand got more and more upset until finally, he just left.  Hand was off to the big city on his own and Henry was left behind, knowing that it was all his fault.  But how do you apologize to someone who has already left?  And how do you know they are OK and not hurt?  Henry had to figure out not only how to live without his right hand, but how to get him back.

MacDonald has written a wonderfully original book that is unafraid of being wildly wacky.  Behind that wild premise though is a book with plenty of heart.  It is a story of real friendship, the loss of a best friend, and finding a way back to reunite.  MacDonald has a nice feel for pacing and drama, peppering his book with plenty of action. 

This is a book set in a world that has a vintage feel about it, the city is filled with early century vehicles and technology.   Henry himself is an homage to the monsters of that time, yet he is also completely friendly and nonthreatening. 

Add this to your Halloween reads, monster story times, and units on body parts and friendship.  It is sure to come in handy!  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Abrams Books for Young Readers.

Review: Sadie and Ratz by Sonya Hartnett

| Tasha

sadie and ratz

Sadie and Ratz by Sonya Hartnett, illustrated by Ann James

Hannah’s hands are named Sadie and Ratz, and they get into all sorts of trouble.  They like to crunch, squish and squeeze things.  They are especially active when Hannah’s little brother, Baby Boy, does things like going into her room or using all of the markers.  Then Sadie and Ratz try to rub off his ears.  Baby Boy screams for help and Hannah gets into trouble.  But then one day, something strange happens and Sadie and Ratz get accused of drawing on the wall, when they were nowhere near there.  Baby Boy was there, but he tells his parents that Sadie and Ratz were the ones who did it.  Later, Baby Boy blamed Sadie and Ratz for his skinned knee.  He got a cookie and cuddles, while Hannah only got a cookie.  Things were getting out of control, so Hannah sent her hands on vacation so they could no longer be blamed for things they had not done.  After that, she discovered that her pet stick insect, Pin, was missing a leg.  Now that was taking it too far!  Whose busy hands could have done this?

This book is a delight.  It’s going to bother some people that the behavior the children are modeling here is not perfect.  Rather, it is naughty, childlike, and accurate.  This book reflects great parenting on the part of the parents in the book, an openness for creativity, and a welcome zing of real life.  These are children who don’t always tell the truth and have hands that get into mischief. 

The charcoal illustrations by James have a wonderful wild quality as well.  They are rough, often dark, and filled with shadows.  These are not illustrations filled with color, pink and glitter.  All signs point to the fact that this is a different sort of chapter book altogether.  And so it is.

An outstanding addition to beginning readers in libraries, this book will appeal to a certain kind of family and a certain kind of kid.  You know if you are one of those parents and if you are raising on of those kids.  Mine both are.  Appropriate for ages 6-8.

Reviewed from library copy.