The Kissing Hand

When Chester the raccoon is reluctant to go to kindergarten for the first time, his mother teaches him a secret way to carry her love with him.

In this contemporary classic Chester Raccoon seeks love and reassurance from his mother as he ventures out into the world to attend his very first day of school.

Publishers Weekly

In her foreword to Penn's sugary tale about Chester, a young raccoon who would rather stay at home than go to school, Jean Kennedy Smith notes that the story is ``for any child who confronts a difficult situation, and for the child within each of us who sometimes needs reassurance.'' Its obvious message is delivered by Mrs. Raccoon, who tells her son that ``I know a wonderful secret that will make your nights at school seem as warm and cozy as your days at home.'' She then kisses his palm, and Chester feels the kiss ``rush from his hand, up his arm, and into his heart.'' Whenever he gets lonely, she advises, he is to press his hand to his cheek and ``that very kiss will jump to your face and fill you with toasty warm thoughts.'' As it may for youngsters in comparable situations, this ``secret'' works for Chester, who in turn kisses his mother's palm so that she, too, will be reassured. Sprinkled with hearts and flowers, Harper and Leak's paintings of the raccoons and their woodland habitat are pleasant if sentimental. Ages 3-8. (Mar.)

Ruth E. Harper was born in the tiny English town of Burnham-on-Crouch. She has lived and studied in Israel and Cyprus, as well as in England and the US. She has illustrated in a wide variety of styles, including technical drawings that were accepted by the U.S. Patent Office when she was 13 years old.

Maryland artist Nancy M. Leak is a specialist in printmaking. She works and exhibits with a group of seven women called Printmakers Plus, as well as with other local and national organizations. Her hand-pulled original etchings, many of them miniatures, have won recognition all over the U.S.