The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, illustrated by Ruth E. Harper and Nancy M. Leak
Rating: 5 stars
Oh my gosh such a sweet book. Be prepared for tears! (From you, of course, not your little one, who will mostly be oblivious to the sweetness of this book.)
I'm certain that you've at least heard of this book before as it was written in 1993 and stayed on the NYTimes bestsellers list for a long time. And almost every preschool that has a recommended reading list to parents during the back-to-school months must include this book on it. It's a simple story: the little raccoon is starting school and is worried he'll miss his mama. So she kisses his hand and tells him that if he feels lonely, just put the hand up to his face and he'll feel her love for him, even if she's not right there. At the end, he kisses her hand (sniff, sniff!) and tells her the same thing.
Our preschool suggests that we "create a ritual of saying good-bye" like having a special handshake or a song, or a kiss on the hand like this book suggests. For Ben it'll certainly be an explosive fist bump, something that cracks him up like nobody's business. For sweet Lorelei, it'll be something like a kiss or song. Ok, I've got to stop thinking about the first day of carpool and actually saying good-bye to Lorelei. I'm so thankful that Ben will still be in the car with me; I hate crying in front of them, so I'll at least have to sob silently.
This is such a cute book. I read this, and others, and planned what cute and memorable things I would do for my homesick preschoolers. But then....my kids ran off into their classrooms too excited to say goodbye and certainly not homesick, and that was that! :)
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