Amanda Haan

Connie Fletcher (Booklist, Apr. 15, 2003 (Vol. 99, No. 16))
In a book about empowerment and choice, an unidentified narrator catalogs some of the wonderful things a hand can do: pick up things, throw, hold, write, draw, push. Fluid, expressionistic illustrations in Day-Glo colors, some full page, some small and square, add potency to the brief words. After exploring what hands can do, the narrator moves to bigger issues--honorable behavior and choice ("I choose not to steal, push, hurt"), with the accompanying illustration, in garish hues, on a background of orange and yellow flames. The book concludes as the narrator recounts good choices (using a hand to pet, cuddle, tickle, and share), which leads to the final statement, "So I'll call my hand gentle." An elegantly simple lesson that will work well at home and in the classroom. Category: Books for the Young--Fiction. 2003, Viking, $15.99. PreS-Gr. 3.… (meer)