Lefty A story that is not all right

With each spread decorated as a simple stage, photo collages of two goggle-eyed, bespectacled hands-as-puppets enter on verso and recto. The one on the left is clad with a cuff at its neck (the wrist) emblazed with the letter L for "Lefty," while the right one's cuff has an R for "Righty." Separated by the gutter, Lefty informs Righty in speech-balloon text, "There was a time when people could get into trouble...FOR BEING LEFT-HANDED!" Righty's incredulous response, "HUBBA WHAAAA!?!?", fills the spread, inviting laughter from readers who may be similarly mystified by this revelation. Aided by illustrations that adopt different styles to indicate other historical eras, Lefty details past superstitions and prejudices against fellow lefties, remarking that "even in ancient times, left-handed people pretended to be who they weren't and hid their left-handedness." As the text proceeds, it's clear that this dialogue about how "handedness is just one part of how you were born" can apply to other parts of life, too, culminating with Righty exclaiming, "And you can't be born WRONG...RIGHT?" Willems and Santat's collaboration provides an engaging conversation starter to help ensure that no child feels the need to hide any part of themself. What could be righter than that? Megan Dowd LambertJanuary/February 2025 p.77 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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!?!?" fromThe 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.(Informational picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.