My Father's Hands [Hardcover]

Joanne Ryder (Author), Mark Graham (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1994 | Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up

A man working in his garden finds a delicate worm, a beetle in shining armor, and a leaf-green mantis and shares these treasures with his young daughter. "Lovely double-page, impressionistic oil paintings...provide a picturesque setting for this simple, straightforward description of a special parent/child outing."--School Library Journal.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this loving tribute, a girl watches her father as he tends a garden--as well as its wiggling, sliding, bumbling and graceful creatures. He opens his cupped, earth-encrusted hands to reveal a "pink circle of worm," a beetle "shining in gold armor" and a praying mantis "so light, so bold, so strange." The father wordlessly conveys his enthusiasm to his daughter, who narrates: "I bend closer, knowing that nothing within my father's hands will harm me." The crisp clarity of Ryder's ( One Small Fish ) prose balances her warm effusion (as the mantis is returned to his bush, father and daughter "watch him / till he melts / green in the greenness"). Graham's ( Where's the Baby? ) oil paintings, scumbled beneath a dewy veil of early summer light, perfectly match the intimacy of Ryder's text. Ages 4-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-K-A little girl and her father share the wonders of nature as they examine several small creatures in the garden-a pink worm, a golden beetle, a sliding snail, and a praying mantis. Graham's lovely double-page, impressionistic oil paintings clearly focus on the man and his daughter, with closeups of faces and hands in nearly every illustration. The garden in the background, lush with flowers and vegetable plants, provides a picturesque setting for this simple, straightforward description of a special parent/child outing. A nice book for one-on-one sharing.
Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (August 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068809189X
• ISBN-13: 978-0688091897
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 10.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that touches the essence of fatherhood, August 5, 2000

By 

jo mitchell (Marsing, Idaho USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Father's Hands (Hardcover)

In this book, where a young father shows his garden world to his daughter, one touches both the magical and the spiritual. Neither is mentioned, but both are there in the rich prose and wonderful paintings. The children I watched hearing it were caught up in the magic and the wonder of the discoveries. And they were quiet with my tears when I read of the dirt that never quite ever washed off the young father's hands. I was remembering my own father's hands that never quite ever lost that earthy stain. Would that every father-to-be recieve a copy of this work that exemplifies the ultimate essence of fatherhood - that "nothing in my father's hands would ever hurt me."