cover image I CALL MY HAND GENTLE

I CALL MY HAND GENTLE

Amanda Haan, , illus. by Marina Sagona. . Viking, $15.99 (40pp) ISBN 978-0-670-03621-9

This message-driven book, a debut for both author and illustrator, merits interest as a showcase for Sagona's trendy, eye-catching art. An unseen narrator announces, "This is my hand," then proceeds to describe what a hand can do (pick, hug, protect) and to assert various truisms ("It can't do things without me/ It does what I want it to do"). The speaker then "chooses" to engage in various constructive activities and "choose[s] not to steal/ push/ hurt/ grab/ or break." Sagona's hip style camouflages the text's didacticism to some extent. Powerful, streamlined graphics float against sophisticated, blended-color backgrounds. The narrator's hand, for example, is first seen against a background heavily daubed with shades of pink; the hand itself is purple and patterned with '60s daisies (think Flower Power). The artist uses color fields to create visually rhythmic panels on other spreads, and she doesn't shy away from rendering figures with fuchsia or sea-green skin. But the art, like the text, is aimed more at adults than kids, who may feel cheated of a story. All ages. (May)