My hands tell a story

First Title Value for Searching:

Personal Author:

Lyons, Kelly Starling

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 30 cm.

Summary:

A little girl, baking bread with her grandmother, becomes transported by the tales her grandmother's hands tell -- those that spring from the rose-painted nails, a flower-banded wedding ring, and the way her fingers move and glide. These hands have many tales to tell. But only if you listen.

Subject Term:

Hand -- Juvenile fiction.

Grandparent and child -- Juvenile fiction

Baking -- Juvenile fiction.

Additional Credits:

Engel, Tonya

Audience/Lexile:

660 L

Publication Info:

New York : Reycraft Books, 2022.

Subject:

Hand -- Juvenile fiction.

Grandparent and child -- Juvenile fiction

Baking -- Juvenile fiction.

Hands

Paw

Paws

SAILS ISBN:

9781478870616

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... Pembroke Public Library	JE LYONS, K.	NEW CHILDREN BOOK	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Acushnet Library	JJ LYONS	PICTURE BOOKS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Attleboro Public Library	PIC LYONS,K	PICTURE BOOKS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Fall River Main	E LYO	PICTURE BOOKS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Middleborough Public Library	LYO	NEW CHILDREN BOOK	Searching... Unknown
Searching... New Bedford Francis J. Lawler Branch	J PIC LYONS	NEW CHILDREN BOOK	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Somerset Public Library	L Y O	PICTURE BOOKS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Taunton Public Library	E LYONS	CHILDRENS ROOM	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A little girl, baking bread with her grandmother, becomes transported by the tales her grandmother's hands tell--those that spring from the rose-painted nails, a flower-banded wedding ring, and the way her fingers move and glide. These hands have many tales to tell. But only if you listen.

Reviews (3)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 1--3--In this heartwarming story, Zoe, a young Black girl, shares reflective conversation with her grandma, inspired by Zoe's observations of her grandma's skillful, graceful hands as they bake bread together. The grandmother reveals how her hands hold memories, love of family, and a life lived with purpose, all of which reassure Zoe that her own hands hold strength to shape the start of her own life story. This sincere relationship of trust and care is beautifully captured in oil-painted illustrations, where quiet, personal moments within the kitchen are accompanied by an elegant, symbolic focus on hands. Engel's painterly brush strokes in captivating scenes create textured grooves, an integral element transforming the hands and scenes depicted into sculpted lines and lively colors that appear almost tangible to readers. Vivid blended layers and gentle swirls outline the figures for a glowing effect that echoes the thoughtful tone of the story. VERDICT Readers will pause to share in the happiness and sense of peace that bloom on the family's faces; the spirit of finding one's calling in this expressively illustrated book honoring family and self-love.--Rachel Mulligan

Publisher's Weekly Review

Hands and the stories they tell become the means through which a Black child bonds with a beloved grandmother in this expressive, painterly picture book. While showing Zoe how to bake cinnamon bread like her mother taught her ("Ingredients are only part of it. You've got to get the rhythm"), Zoe's grandma describes some of what her hands have seen and done--from dancing onstage to growing a vegetable garden early in her marriage--prompting Zoe to reflect on the future. "I look at my hands, really look at them, for the first time./ I can see memories in every line.// Clapping games with friends./ Drawing my dreams./ Building and baking," Zoe describes. When the bread is finished, the pair high five, and Grandma remarks upon the physical similarity between their hands, while also musing about the different life experiences Zoe is sure to have. With big brushstrokes, Engel's thickly textured paintings lend a timeless feel to Lyons's heartwarming portrait of grandparent-child love. Ages 5--10. (Mar.)

Horn Book Review

Zoe loves baking cinnamon-swirl bread with her grandmother. As Grandma kneads the dough with a "push and pull," she recalls how her own mother taught her to make bread. When Zoe tries kneading, however, the dough bunches up and sticks to her hands; Zoe wonders "if they will ever move" like her grandmother's. Standing behind her, Grandma places her hands on top of Zoe's and guides the kneading "until it's just right." Engel's (Your Legacy, rev. 1/22) highly textured illustrations, with deep, rich colors, capture the closeness of the intergenerational bond described by Lyons (Dream Builder, rev. 3/20). While the dough rises, grandmother and granddaughter "sit and talk. [Grandma's] hands tell a story if you listen." The following double-page spread shows Grandma's lined palms and fingers up-close, labeled with different identities, including "teacher," "planter," and, most prominently, "mother." As Grandma talks about her own life, Zoe wonders where her own hands will go and what stories they will tell. Baking and reminiscing with Grandma help Zoe see the power and potential she holds in her own hands. A fine companion to Bingham's Soul Food Sunday (rev. 11/21), this story spreads joy like a dusting of flour on a freshly baked loaf. Michelle H. Martin May/June 2022 p.127(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.