It helped both of them so much that they decided to keep the tradition going - and at the end of this month, Joslyn will start her senior year of high school, bolstered by the presence of what might be the very last little heart drawn on her hand. “The next morning I drew a little heart on her hand, so she could feel those tingles straight to her heart and know that if she were to ‘feel lonely and need a little loving from home'” - which, adorably, is a quote from the book - “she could look down at the heart and remember that I love her.”Īs all parents know, our kids aren’t the only ones who need some first-day reassurance, so Melissa also had Joslyn draw a heart on her hand and kiss it, too. Have you read the book The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn I fell in love with it after my then kindergartner brought it home with a tracing of his hand with.

“The night before Joslyn started Kindergarten we read the book,” she said. Her daughter Joslyn was born in 2005, and Melissa kept that promise. “ The Kissing Hand was a book I read in a Children’s Literature course in college, and I promised myself that when I had children, I would read this book the night before their first day of school,” she told SheKnows. The rough but endearing raccoon illustrations are as satisfying and soothing for anxious children as the simple story.For Melissa, the recommendation isn’t just professional it’s personal. Audrey Penn's The Kissing Hand, published by the Child Welfare League of America, is just the right book for any child taking that fledgling plunge into preschool-or for any youngster who is temporarily separated from home or loved ones. Chester is so pleased with his Kissing Hand that he-in a genuinely touching moment-gives his mom a Kissing Hand, too, to comfort her when he is away. She takes her son's hand, spreads his tiny fingers into a fan and kisses his palm-smack dab in the middle: 'Chester felt his mother's kiss rush from his hand, up his arm, and into his heart.' Whenever he feels lonely at school, all he has to do is press his hand to his cheek to feel the warmth of his mother's kiss. This secret, she tells him, will make school seem as cozy as home. Even better, she has a special secret that's been in the family for years-the Kissing Hand. She assures him that he'll love school-with its promise of new friends, new toys, and new books.

Chester Raccoon doesn't want to go to school-he wants to stay home with his mother.

The kissing hand book