Two Hands To Love You

PreS—Various family members tell how their hands will help a baby as he grows. Two hands will "rock you to sleep," "raise you up high," "help you squeeze lemons for juice," and so on. All end with the same couplet: "For you are my baby; I'll never be far./I'll love you, think of you, wherever you are." The story starts with an infant and ends with a toddler. The text is written in carefully metered anapestic tetrameter with end rhyme, which gives it an easy rocking feel when reading it aloud. Each stanza is narrated by a different person. The soft ink and watercolor sketches are done mostly in black and white; the only colors are touches of yellow and pink. This sweet book would make a good choice for baby programs or a one-on-one read. Pair it with Mem Fox's Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes (Harcourt, 2008) and Robert Munsch's Love You Forever (Firefly, 1995).—Emily E. Lazio, The Smithtown Special Library District, NY