Hands & Hearts

April 15, 2014
This mother-daughter beach outing features an added layer: Throughout the day, they use American Sign Language to communicate. The child narrates their activities with delightfully descriptive simplicity: "Take my arms / and hold on tight / roll me in the sand / dip me in the sea." They dance and spin, splash in the waves, swim, build a sand castle and watch the sunset. Gentle pencil-and-watercolor paintings capture the scenes and will lead youngsters to imagine the feelings of a soft sea breeze and the sun on their faces. The warm golden light suffusing the images emphasizes the loving bond between the two. Looking deeper, children will notice hands embracing, fingers touching, hands and fingers shaping words. In addition, one word in each passage appears in red type. This word is then featured in a sidebar illustrating the sign. When done, readers will have learned how to sign 15 words. In her author's note, Napoli describes her work on sign languages and encourages the curious to do their own research. A memorable excursion. (Picture book. 3-6)

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May 1, 2014

PreS-Gr 1-It would be difficult to find a more refined depiction of a mother and child enjoying a blissful day at the beach. The watercolor-and-pencil illustrations are soft, inviting, and appealing to the senses. They invite the eye to focus on small details, such as the close-up of sandals kicked off in the sand. The book is in landscape, highlighting the horizontal nature of the beach. The page layout is steady throughout, producing a sense of profound calm and quiet joy. Each spread includes an American Sign Language diagram for a word in the text, framed by a sketch of shells, sand dollars, and other seashore motifs. A small centered square of text in verse hovers in the white space. "Take my hands/And dance me dizzy/Swing me around/Fly me to the dunes." Opposite are the painterly, tactile, almost cloudlike, warmly hued illustrations of the outing, from sunup to sundown. The only drawback to this poetic summertime story is that a couple of signs are not accurately illustrated or commonly used. For example, "hand" is signed not palms down, but palms facing the body, at chest level. Nevertheless, the book is recommended for libraries with an interest in ASL, and those in need of beach-themed picture books for the mommy-and-me crowd.-Sara Lissa Paulson, The American Sign Language and English Lower School, New York City

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