Fiction - Health & Medicine, Fiction - Basic Concepts

Hands Can

Name: Hands Can
Author: Cheryl Willis Hudson
ISBN: 9780763632922

by Cheryl Willis Hudson, John-Francis Bourke

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Overview

Hands can do all kinds of things! A rhyming text with eye-catching color photos offers just the encouragement young children need to explore their world - hands on.

Hands can hold things.
Hands can mold things.
Hands can catch and hands can throw.

Hands can do much more, of course - wave hello and goodbye, play peekaboo, touch things, clap, even tie a shoe. For the very young, hands are a never-ending source of discovery and a means of mastery in an ever-unfolding world. With singsong rhythm, simple design, and alluring color photos of toddlers, HANDS CAN invites the littlest readers to discover the many things hands can do.

Photographs and simple, rhyming text present different things that hands can do, such as hold things, mix things, and wave goodbye.

Synopsis

Hands can do all kinds of things! A rhyming text with eye-catching color photos offers just the encouragement young children need to explore their world - hands on.

Hands can hold things.
Hands can mold things.
Hands can catch and hands can throw.

Publishers Weekly

In Hands Can by Cheryl Willis Hudson, photos by John-Francis Bourke, a simple rhyming text and crisp photos of toddlers depict a number of activities to inspire youngsters to discover the world with their own hands. Beginning "Hands can wave to say `hello.'/ Hands can touch things high and low," a multiracial cast of characters fold and mold, mix and fix, all against solid-colored backgrounds. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

About the Author, Cheryl Willis Hudson

Cheryl Willis Hudson is the author of a dozen books for children, including BRIGHT EYES, BROWN SKIN (coauthored with Bernette G. Ford) and COME BY HERE, LORD: EVERYDAY PRAYERS FOR CHILDREN. She says that HANDS CAN was inspired by her own children. "I was amazed by the versatility, dexterity, utility, and even gracefulness of such small fingers," she says. "I began to see hands as marvelous works of art, and I wanted to somehow capture that vision in a children’s book."

John-Francis Bourke was born in Dublin, Ireland, and now works in New York City. His photographs have been published in GQ, TV GUIDE, ESPN THE MAGAZINE, NICK JR., PARENTING, and PARENTS. He says, "Photographing people provides me with a constant stream of new faces, new words, new conversation - it never gets old. Photographing children gives you all that, plus innocence and curiosity. Wonderful!" This is his first book for children.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Children's Literature

Amazed by "the versatility, dexterity, utility and even gracefulness" of the small fingers and hands of her own children, the author was inspired to write this book. Simple rhyming text describes some of the many things little hands can do. "Hands can mix things. Hands can fix things. Hands can clap while voices sing. Hands can do all kinds of things." Enchanting photographs of children using their hands illustrate each page of the text. Young children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds wave, touch, mix, hold, throw, catch and play peekaboo. Children will be delighted by the words and by the accompanying photographs and are certain to be inspired to take a hands-on approach in exploring the world around them. A splendid addition to any collection of books for and about small children and highly recommended for anyone who lives or works with them. 2003, Candlewick Press, Ages 2 to 4.
— Anita Barnes Lowen

Children's Literature - Anita Barnes Lowen

Amazed by "the versatility, dexterity, utility and even gracefulness" of the small fingers and hands of her own children, the author was inspired to write this book. Simple rhyming text describes some of the many things little hands can do. "Hands can mix things. Hands can fix things. Hands can clap while voices sing. Hands can do all kinds of things." Enchanting photographs of children using their hands illustrate each page of the text. Young children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds wave, touch, mix, hold, throw, catch, and play peekaboo. Children will be delighted by the words and by the accompanying photographs and are certain to be inspired to take a hands-on approach in exploring the world around them. This is a splendid addition to any collection of books for and about small children and is highly recommended for anyone who lives or works with them. It now comes in a board book format for even younger children.

School Library Journal

PreS-Rich, full-color photographs illustrate the variety of fine and gross motor activities in which hands become engaged. "Hands can catch/and hands can throw./Hands can plant seeds in a row." Vibrant solid colors, which change at random, frame each photograph. All of the ethnically diverse children pictured are engaged in and intent on their activity. Bourke captures the action without making the scenes seem staged. The rhyming text sets the scene, focusing on age-appropriate activities such as tying a shoe or playing "Peekaboo." The book opens with a wave "hello" and ends perfectly with a friendly "Bye-bye." This inviting offering provides youngsters with an almost sensory experience in which they can appreciate how their hands help them to explore and interact with their world.-Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.