Join Hands!

Lively photographs celebrate both individuality and community. From singing and dancing to a pet parade and masquerade, the joys of playing together are made manifest through Ancona's trademark high-spirited pictures. Parents familiar with The Electric Company and other pieces produced by the Children's Television Network will wax nostalgic over the candid photos with natural light; the clean design and wide diversity of representations in the photos will also capture the attention of younger readers. Mora calls on kids to join in the fun using a pantoum, a Malaysian poetic form. Composed of four-line stanzas, in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza become the first and third lines of the next stanza, the pantoum enlivens the text with repetition and rhythm. The full poem is included at the end with color-coded lines to help readers understand its structure, along with a friendly explanation of the form. (Picture book. 3-6) (Kirkus Reviews)