The Kissing Hand [With Stickers]

The Kissing Hand [With Stickers]

by Audrey Penn
Illustration by Ruth E. Harper & Nancy M. Leak

When Chester the raccoon is reluctant to go to kindergarten for the first time, his mother teaches him a secret way to carry her love with him.

This sweet story about a young raccoon nervous to leave behind his mother and everything familiar to start school will hit home with many preschoolers who are anxious about their first day of school. Children will adore the raccoon, which is drawn with wonderfully expressive eyes, as well as the other woodland creatures, including a deer, a skunk and some rabbits. Kids will love discovering little details, such as the raccoon is a nocturnal animal, so he goes to school at night and that the raccoon's new friend is a skunk. The story is succinctly told and the book is the perfect length for young children.

Parents and children can borrow the idea of the kissing hand from mother raccoon or create a variation of their own to remind the child that even when they are apart, the love doesn't fade. The last page of the book includes a sheet of heart stickers that read, "The Kissing Hand," which are sure to be a big hit with young ones.

After reading this story to Emily, the three-year-old that I babysit, it moved to the top of her to-read list. Since I bring a selection of books with me to her house every day, she adorably requested that I bring "the cute raccoon book" back the next day. She loved looking at the illustrations, especially the two-page-spread at the end of the story where all the animals gather in the tree for night school. Each time we reached that page, she would ask me which animal was my favorite.

--Abby