Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb (Bright & Early Books) [Paperback]

Al Perkins (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bright & Early Books

Very young children will appreciate 'HAND HAND FINGERS THUMB' on the most basic finger-playing, hand-clapping level. This comic, rhythmic book gets 'drummed' and memorised first and read later. A book to last from babyhood to early school. Bright and Early books help even the youngest child get ready to read. Simple stories and basic concepts are humorously presented in rhythm and rhyme. Pictures that fully explain the text help even babies make the important connection between word and meaning. It's never too early to find out that 'Learning to read is fun'.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Illus. in full color. A madcap band of dancing, prancing monkeys explain hands, fingers, and thumbs to beginning readers.   --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

By Al Perkins, Illustrated by Eric Gurney

Product Details

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books (June 30, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0001712705
• ISBN-13: 978-0001712706
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (117 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,113,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Helping Your Child Learn to Read to a Syncopated Beat!, October 19, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb (Bright & Early Books) (Hardcover)

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!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Our family's favorite book., April 20, 2000

By 

P. Bonoff "Yaleman" (Scarsdale, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb (Bright & Early Books) (Hardcover)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Abridgement, August 12, 2011

By 

Jennifer Arrow - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb (Bright & Early Books) (Hardcover)

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!