In Your Hands

"I love what Weatherford writes for children. I use a lot of her books in class like Moses and Voices of Freedom and Freedom on the Menu . Pick up any book that she’s written, and you’ve got a winner. But this book, In Your Hands , is special. It’s a touching story about a mother and a child who happened to be African American. The mother has all the same dreams that any mother has for her child, but she also is attuned and worried about how the world will perceive her child. This is something I could identify with as a mother. And this book is as much for the adult reading it as it is for the child. “I want children to understand, from a very young age, that we all have to work together for a better tomorrow” In many children’s books, the illustrations are brash and bright in color. These illustrations are light and warm tones. To me, it really embodies the warmth between a mother and child. Rhythm and music is so much a part of African American culture. I suspect that some of these books just naturally came out with a poetic rhythm, which is part of what makes them wonderful to read. Children particularly enjoy hearing rhythm and rhyme in the books."