Book Review: All These Hands

Reviewed by Toni Woodruff

A loving picture book about helping hands in a big family

Babies have limited eye sight. For a while, they’re staring at the world in portrait mode: focused in on whatever’s inches from their face but with a blurred background. During this adjustment period out of the womb, the baby gets acquainted with the hands and voices of those around them. 

For Eryn Lee, that’s a lot of hands and voices. All These Hands: A Day in the Life of Eryn Lee chronicles the myriad ways in which hands pop up around this baby to help her do things: from eating to going to the potty to going to sleep. She’s got a big family, and they’re all willing to help. Eryn Lee’s toy dolls even accompany her. With her family and toys around her, Eryn Lee can go to sleep calmly, knowing that there are people around who love her.

I love the concept of All These Hands, especially in a family as warm and big as this. What a way for children to learn about the science of their baby siblings and to learn how much community goes into raising a baby! The book also comes with songs to sing with your little one, like “The Good Morning Song” and “The Pottytime Song.” Bonus points to the author for putting these songs up on YouTube so that both the parent and the baby can get familiar with and excited about the medley.

Picture books always win me over when they cover topics relevant and important to a child’s every day. That’s what makes this one so relatable and helpful for parents who are trying to improve daily routine activities like eating, bath time, potty time, and sleeping. It’s also a nice touch to add a furry friend in there in the form of Elmo the dog.

What stands in this book’s way is the illustrations. Eryn Lee appears almost as a real face superimposed on a baby’s body, and the rest of the scene is often populated by copy & pasted cartoon items. Some hands bleed into objects, and sometimes it feels as though the scene is cropped at awkward angles to make sure no other faces (except for one) shows up on the page. The text on each page can get a bit lengthy as well. 

There is clearly a lot of love sewn into the pages of this book. Its storyline of community, family, and assistance is a touching one. Combine this with the great premise with scientific backing, and you’ve got yourself a picture book with great personality and insight.  

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