Pat Mora, photographs by George Ancona,
Join Hands! The Way We Celebrate Life
Charlesbridge, 2008.

Ages 3-8

The exuberant words of Pat Mora’s poem combined with George Ancona’s vibrant, happy photographs make Join Hands! an absolute joy! Children of different ethnic backgrounds are shown joining together in all sorts of fun, dancing, skipping, skating, playing music.  Young readers/ listeners follow the children as they make the necessary preparations for their parties and parades too.

The rhythmic verse is written in the form of the traditional Malaysian pantoum, which Mora explains at the end.  She points out how apposite the pantoum form is: “The second and fourth lines in one stanza become the first and third lines in the next” – so “We strut and ballyhoo” in the first stanza becomes “Some read, some ballyhoo” in the second. The last stanza brings the poem full circle by echoing its corresponding lines back at the beginning, “like a group of friends joining hands”. Young readers will delight too in the photograph of Mora and Ancona as these two grown-ups are obviously ready to join in their fun.

Each page is given over to one line of verse, in a fun, wiggly font; and the accompanying photograph is either framed in a bright color or presented as a full-bleed image. The motifs presented in the verse are also repeated in the photographs – but whereas there’s a universality about the poem, which speaks to and can be chanted by all children, the photographs highlight diverse groups of children having fun putting together their “hoopla day” and “ballyhoo” in a potpourri of colors and  traditions.  Papel picado, balloons, even pets, all add to the excitement – and one hilarious picture shows a girl having a cascaron (an eggshell filled with confetti) broken over her head!

Together, Mora and Ancona have produced a gem –let us hope that Join Hands! The Way We Celebrate Life is the first of many books by the duo! This is definitely one book that will not do for a quiet storytime: on the contrary, after reading it, children will likely want to jump up and dance and put together their own parade!

Marjorie Coughlan
October 2009