Pretty pages, v.2

Some people are right-handed. Some people are left-handed. If you write and draw, eat with a fork or spoon, sew or throw a ball with your left hand, then you are left-handed. If you do all these things with your right hand, then you are right-handed. Some people can use both hands equally well. They are ambidextrous.

This is another lovely vintage non-fiction children’s book, this time discussing left-handedness. The author uses a fictional boy nicknamed “Lefty” to carry the narrative, covering how hand-preference develops, difficulties of left-handedness, left-handedness through history and what was known about why some people are left-handed when the book was published. It’s all pretty straight forward, but still Lerner makes Lefty likeable and endearing. There is one weird page-long tangent about the minute details of American Civil War-era rifles, which is kind of strange.

To me, the most interesting part of the book is when the author talks about the equivalence of left-handedness in animals and even in plants. Pretty interesting.

I like this book partially because the author seems like such a badass lady. The book was published in 1960, so it was interesting and awesome to see that Lerner was not only a mother of 4, but a medical doctor and professor.

This awesome book is available for dirt cheap on Amazon. I’d seriously recommend it; even if your child isn’t left-handed, this book is a great example of a child having questions about a topic, and doing real-world research (going to a museum, talking to specialists, asking questions and not being embarrassed) to sate their curiosity. It’s just all-around smart.

Do you have any recommendations for books to highlight in Pretty Pages? Would you like to write a post as a guest? Let me know in the comments!

About these ads