Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. Al Perkins. 1969. Random House. 36 pages. [Source: Bought]

First sentence: Hand hand fingers thumb. One thumb one thumb drumming on a drum. One hand two hands drumming on a drum. Dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum.

Premise/plot: What starts out as one monkey joyfully drumming ends with millions of monkeys jamming away on their drums. Perkins' book is a jazzy treat that delights readers old and new.

Favorite quotes:
"Hello Jack." "Hello Jake." Shake hands shake hands. Shake! Shake! Shake!
Hand in hand more monkeys come. Many more fingers. Many more thumbs. Many more monkeys. Many more drums. Millions of fingers! Millions of thumbs! Millions of monkeys drumming on drums!
My thoughts: Everything I learned about rhythm and rhyme I learned by reading this one. An exaggeration perhaps, there is also Dr. Seuss. But I tend to judge the quality of all other picture books attempting rhythm with this one. Most fail horribly. There is just something magical about this one. Yes, I grew up with it. Yes, I quote it all the time. I think the book is timeless and just about perfect.

Have you read it? What did you think?

Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 5 out of 5
Total: 10 out of 10

© 2017 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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