LEFTY

Willems continues his forays into the world of informational texts with an unusual overview of our left-handed history.

Two hand puppets (actual hands, there’s no felt here) named Lefty and Righty appear on a makeshift stage to present a story to the reading audience. They deliver shocking news: Historically, a person could get in “really, really BIG trouble” for being left-handed. As far back as ancient times, people would hide their left-handedness to fit in. Otherwise, “you might be fired or arrested or teased or thrown out of your village!” While incorporating the occasional choice callback to other Willems books—for instance, the phrase “Hubba Whaaaa!?!?” from The Duckling Gets a Cookie (2012)—the book empowers left-handed children to understand that “you can’t be born WRONG…RIGHT?” It takes very little to extend such a lesson to other groups forced to conform to society’s norms. As Lefty says, “If you’re hiding who you are, you feel rotten.” Meanwhile, Santat (clearly having a ball) draws historical sections in the style of Puritanical pamphlets, Greco-Roman friezes, and 1950s ad campaigns. Our main characters are real hands with illustrated glasses perched on top, allowing the artist to portray all kinds of emotions through their little drawn eyes. Humans depicted are diverse; the hands are light-skinned.

A handy message goes down smooth when delivered with a little history and a lot of shameless silliness.