ABOUT THIS BOOK: THE KISSING HAND
by Audrey Penn
A favorite book of my five year-old granddaughter is The Kissing Hand. When I saw it on Pinterest as one of 10 Books Every Kid Should Own, I checked it out. It’s credentials are impressive. This story is about the common childhood situation of experiencing fear when facing any kind of separation from home or going into any new situation alone. As a tender story about a young raccoon not wanting to leave home to start school, the title hints at Mrs. Raccoon’s secret solution to her child’s anxiety……a reassuring kiss on his palm.
This book was published in 1993 by The Child Welfare League of America. The foreward is written by Jean Kennedy Smith of the well-known Kennedy family. She writes, “…..this book is for any child facing a difficult situation….and needs reassurance.”Ms. Penn creates this reassurance so well that in 2007, the National Education Association members picked it as one of “Teachers’Top 100 Books for Children. The Kissing Hand is, also, one of the “Top 100 Picture Books“for the School Library Journal.
Wikipedia recounts Ms. Penn’s story of how she conceived the idea for the book. “On a train ride in Wheaton, Maryland, Penn witnessed a ritual in which a mother raccoon placed her nose on a baby raccoon’s paw; and then, the baby raccoon placed its paw on its own face. The park ranger said that the purpose of the ritual was to transfer scent from the mother to the baby so that the baby could recall the mother’s scent by bringing its paw to its face. Penn “started a similar ritual with her daughter —kissing her hand and telling her that whenever she was homesick, she could put her hand to her face.”
Even though this story is fiction, you will find great science information about raccoons in both the sensitive detailed illustrations and the text. Search www.youtube.com for a warm reading of the story. There is no age limit to the people that will appreciate the book’s theme. The Kissing Hand reminds me of a book that I frequently give as a gift: Wherever You Are, My Love Will Find You by Nancy Tillman.
The Reading Comprehension Best Practice that works well with this story is Activating Prior Knowledge/Making Connections.During the Second and Third Readings, your listener and you will be able to share times when you have felt as Chester Raccoon and Mrs. Raccoon have felt.
In the back of my granddaughter’s edition is a page of heart shaped stickers for her to place on the hands or cheeks of family and friends as a symbol of enduring love similar to a “Kissing Hand.”