Beautiful Hands

PreS-Gr 1—This colorful concept book will inspire creativity in children and teachers alike. Baumgarten's inspiration for creating the work was holding the hands of his children and asking, "What will your beautiful hands do today?" This book asks questions on each spread (e.g., "Will they [your hands] lift?…What can they lift?") and uses simple or complex handprints to illustrate. Young elementary school students have made turkeys and flowers with their handprints for years, but these illustrations take handprints to another level. The primary and secondary colors jump off white backgrounds and demonstrate that handprints can be more complex when hands swoosh and swirl, or tiny fingertips create big images. The text is spare but encourages stretching imaginations and thinking of the wonderful possibilities each new day brings.