4 out of 4 stars
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There are lots of awesome stories for kids, but sometimes the best ones for parents to share with children are ones that they can easily relate to. Don't get me wrong, I love fantasy and sci-fi, but sometimes it's nice to relax with a story about a sweet, loving family taking a day to pick and make their own grape jelly and a little girl dealing with her hands turning purple in the aftermath. This is what Aggie's Purple Hands is all about, and it's a very solid (both literally and metaphorically) book for children between fourth and sixth grade.
Aggie's Purple Hands is a stand-alone book that stars a wonderful family that's taking the day to teach their children how to make grape jelly using Papa and Granny's scuppernong grapes growing at their own home. Author Rhonda K. Gatlin shows off the process through Aggie's curious eyes, but when she's asked to clean out the cheesecloth with all the grape hulls her hands turn purple! "I don't want purple hands!" she says as she assumes her hands will be purple forever in an adorable moment.
The biggest surprise out of this book is that it's actually for kids older than I originally assumed. The cover made it look like a young children's picture book, and while there's great art in here it's actually aimed at kids in 4th-6th grade. The images are smaller than the text by quite a bit because there's quite a lot of text per page, but they're still big enough to see at a distance. The topics are also aimed at this age group, such as Aggie's dad explaining to her different measuring sizes from cups to pints using a little math. As a fan of wine myself I also loved seeing the grapevines that Granny and Papa have at their home; they were so big that Aggie and Roger (her brother) thought the central point was a tree!
The other great surprise to me was just how terrific the quality of this book is physically. I said earlier that this is literally a very solid book, and it's true: the book measures 9"x10" and has very sturdy covers and thick pages. The book should certainly hold up for a very long time, and it'll be much harder to accidentally ruin it than many children's books. Also, I thought it was rather clever that the inside covers are both covered with various shades of purple hand prints. It's a really cute introduction and ending to the book!
I was also pleased that the artwork inside the book is as good as the cover. The same illustrator, Eduardo Kraszczuk, did all of the artwork and it's very emotive, bright, warm, and fun. Some images, especially those of Aggie and her family, remind me a bit of Dr. Seuss but a bit more realistic and detailed.
Aggie's Purple Hands is a wonderful, warm, cozy book that I'd definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys cooking with their kids, picking their own fruit, or sharing sweet stories with the family. Those in the south (USA) will likely enjoy it even more as the family talks with a southern accent! I didn't see a single grammatical or formatting error, and the physical book is very high quality. My rating of the book is 4 out of 4 stars.
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Aggie's Purple Hands
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