The Rainbow Hand: Poems About Mothers and Children

The poems in this award-winning collection celebrate the relationship between mothers and their children, with a wide variety of subjects and emotions--from a child walking in her mother’s comforting, protective shadow to a ten-year-old girl wondering if her mother was a clean freak when she was young. Here is ＂Mother’s Heart＂ ＂My mother’s heart / is a bottle / I want to fill with warm milk / to soothe her hurts / with honey to trap her bitterness / with a squirt of Tabasco--Shake her up!＂ Inspired by her memories of her mother and her own role as a mother of a young son, these poems by Wong, skillfully illustrated in full color by Jennifer Hewitson, create an honest portrait of timeless human connections. Sometimes funny, always sensitive, this collection will find a ready audience among young people, especially children and teens who are interested in writing their own poems. THE RAINBOW HAND was a Penn State / Lee Bennett Hopkins Award Honor Book and an ABA Pick of the Lists. Praise from Reviewers: ＂In an exquisite and moving collection of poetry, Wong explores the myriad emotions connected to the word and image of ’mother’ . . . a gift book for children to read with adults.＂ - Kirkus ＂Like the presence of a mother’s hand, Wong’s thoughtful and reflective volume is comforting and easily accessible. The poems are solid and steady reminders of the connections between mothers and children . . . Universal love, discipline, strength, and emotion are all in evidence here.＂ - School Library Journal ＂All of [the poems] hold a kernel of truth that readers of all ages will recognize . . . Children will find their own tangled feelings here.＂ - Booklist

Janet Wong (www.janetwong.com) is the author of more than two dozen books for children and teens, including picture books (THE DUMPSTER DIVER), poetry collections (TWIST: Yoga Poems), chapter books (MINN AND JAKE), an autobiography focusing on her writing process (BEFORE IT WRIGGLES AWAY), and a book of poems about voting (DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE: Poems for an Election Year). She is also the co-author of a series of humorous and provocative conversation-starting e-books for mothers: THE MOM QUIZ. Janet has performed at the White House and has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show. She lives in Princeton, NJ.