Customer Reviews

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb (Bright & Early Board Books(TM))

5 star:		(92)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb was one of her picks.

What is most unusual about this early reader is that it adds a beat to make the material more memorable and fun. The story has monkeys using their hands to beat on various drums. All children will find themselves pounding on something to match the rhythm of the rhyme. "Rings on fingers. Rings on thumb. Drum drum, Drum drum, Drum drum drum." (By the way, for parents old enough to remember Ringo Starr, this does seem to be a satire on Ringo here.) That use of drumming adds a useful kinesthetic clue that will ingrain the material faster. Children start to learn to read by memorizing, and this book is unusually well designed to assist in that process.

But the main thing is that it is fun to read this book. You would have a smile on you face if you read it alone. The smile will broaden when you read with your child, in response to her or his pleasure in the book. That's a great gift for you, as well!

There are lots of jokes about musicians in here that you should enjoy. One of the beats is a play on the word "ditty" for a song. "Dum ditty, Dum ditty, Dum dum dum." Naturally, you can also read this as "Dumb song, Dumb song, Dumb dumb dumb." Your child will never know what you are laughing about.

After you have finished enjoying this very helpful and entertaining book, I suggest that you try your hand at writing and illustrating a similar one. One possible theme could be built around bees buzzing. This book alludes to humming, so you could work with that, as well.

Have many laughs, and be encouraged as a reading tutor!

This is still our family's favorite book, after some 30 years. We had to search for it when grandson was born in 1999. Amazon's search under "monkey" actually turned it up, so we immediately sent it down to him in New Orleans. He prefers eating the book right now, but he's got the rhythm and loves the pictures. Every child would love this book. It grows on you, and excites your memory of reading. I recommend memorizing it (easy) and chanting it in the car, on a stroll, or on the pot. It's interactive in the best ways.

In case anyone is interested, here is the text that's missing from the six pages that were cut from the Bright & Early Board Book version:

Monkeys come
And monkeys go.

Hands with handkerchiefs.
Blow! Blow! Blow!

"Hello Jack."
"Hello Jake."

Shake hands
Shake hands
Shake! Shake! Shake!

"Bye-bye Jake."
"Bye-bye Jack"

Dum ditty
Dum ditty
Whack! Whack! Whack!

This is a nice enough board book, but be advised that it is NOT the full version of Dr. Seuss' book! They've left out several (charming!) pages of text and illustrations for the Board Book... What a disappointment to loyal fans, and how unfair to the newest generation of fans-to-be.

I keep this book with a drum in my room at school. This book is so useful with its use of strong rhythm, hammy pictures and repetitive language.

I usually use this as one of my earlier readaloud books in the beginning of the school year. It's an excellent source for discussion about body parts.

The children are excited about coming up to the front and having their turn pounding dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum on the drum. Acting out the hi, bye, and shaking hands, as well as the humming helps with understanding these actions.

A verrrryyy fun book!

P.S. I now have the board book version of this book because I am now a grandmother to a thirteen month old boy who loves being read to and tearing and eating the pages. Paper pages are not a wise choice until he outgrows this stage. I read this book regularly to our dear little boy, sometimes with a toy drum nearby, sometimes not. If the drum is handy I drum the pages while reading. Little James has a fascination with rhythm and for a little one is pretty good on the drum. This book is filled with strong, distinct rhythms to help with learning language.

Our speech therapist recommended this book because of its simple lively rhyming and easy rhythm. My sons were not 2 1/2 yet and not saying many words. But they certainly understood hands and drums and rings and monkeys, so they took to it from the beginning.

Unfortunately, it hasn't become a favorite of theirs. I'm not sure if the colors are too "earthy" (mostly brown, yellow and orange) for them or if they just have other stronger interests (horses and firetrucks and construction trucks right now at a little over 2 1/2) However, I like to pull it out and read it simply because *I* enjoy the rhyme and rhythm.

But as the therapist pointed out, it is a great book for early readers and for toddlers to participate in the actions and to "read" (memorize). And it uses lots of sounds that are often difficult for children (th, ending consonant sounds on one syllable words). So while the color scheme is not the bright primary colors of many toddler books, I still recommend it for the easy and fun reading.

My son would NOT sit through a book at 15 mos. old. I decided to bring out my childhood favorite. It's new name is the "Monkey Book" and it is read several times a day, every day. He's 18 mos. old now and has it memorized. The book doesn't even have to be open and he knows the next line. He loves this book so much, that sometimes he just gives the monkeys kisses as he looks at the pictures, narrating when he feels compelled. Highly recommend this book to anyone having trouble getting their young ones to appreciate reading. My son now has a love of reading that I thought would never blossom 3 months ago.

One of the first books our daughter would sit through from the time she was four or five months old was another Al Perkins classic, "The Nose Book". She's also loved "The Ear Book" since right around the same time. I'd never heard of "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb" until we saw it in the waiting room where my car was being serviced. Sierra LOVED it! We must have read it twenty times, and it really helped to pass the time. When we got to the page that read "dum ditty, dum ditty, whack whack whack!" she giggled out loud and brought smiles to every face in the place. Santa will definitely be bringing this one along in his sack!

Grandma dug out the old dog-eared copy of this book for the 12 month old grandson. Now he is 18 months and we are very relieved to find that it is still in print, because the old one has finally been loved to pieces. The book doesn't look especially unusual, just a bunch of cute monkeys, but the rhythms are fantastic. It doesn't have flaps, or textures, or bright colors, but this was the first book he would really listen to and he still wants it read to him daily. He has many books that he loves to look at, but this is the best one for listening. The old book isn't a board book and we will replace it with the same size book. We are finding that often the board book pictures lose impact because of the reduced size.

You know how some children's books you've read so many times that you just cringe when your toddler picks them out? This one I still like to read. It was a favorite of my daughter's at 8 months and is still a favorite at 20 months.