My Father's Hands, Vol. 0

A girl's father digs in the garden, finding and presenting for inspection such wonders as a round gold beetle and a leaf-green mantis.

A man working in his garden finds a delicate worm, a beetle in shining armor, and a leaf-green mantis and shares these treasures with his young daughter. "Lovely double-page, impressionistic oil paintings...provide a picturesque setting for this simple, straightforward description of a special parent/child outing."—School Library Journal.

Publishers Weekly

In this loving tribute, a girl watches her father as he tends a garden--as well as its wiggling, sliding, bumbling and graceful creatures. He opens his cupped, earth-encrusted hands to reveal a ``pink circle of worm,'' a beetle ``shining in gold armor'' and a praying mantis ``so light, so bold, so strange.'' The father wordlessly conveys his enthusiasm to his daughter, who narrates: ``I bend closer, knowing that nothing within my father's hands will harm me.'' The crisp clarity of Ryder's ( One Small Fish ) prose balances her warm effusion (as the mantis is returned to his bush, father and daughter ``watch him / till he melts / green in the greenness''). Graham's ( Where's the Baby? ) oil paintings, scumbled beneath a dewy veil of early summer light, perfectly match the intimacy of Ryder's text. Ages 4-up. (Aug.)

Joanne Ryder has always loved pandas, starting with the very first small panda toy she had as a child. She has continued to be fascinatd by these rare and wonderful animals throughout her career as a writer. She is the award-winning author of numerous picture books, including A Pair of Polar Bears: Twin Cubs Find a Home at the San Diego Zoo; Little Panda: The World Welcomes Hua Mei at the San Diego Zoo; My Mother's Voice; My Father's Hands; Big Bear Ball; and Wild Birds. She lives in Pacific Grove, California, with her husband, Laurence Yep, who is also an author.