Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb

by Al Perkins

"Many more fingers.
Many more thumbs.
Many more monkeys.
Many more drums."

A madcap band of dancing, prancing monkeys explain hands, fingers, and thumbs to beginning readers.

Illustrated with full-page color drawings

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Storytime, Classics, Music, Animals

24 pages, Board Book

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Al Perkins is an author of several children's books, including the ever-popular Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb (1969), The Digging-est Dog (1967), and The Ear Book (1968).He also wrote early titles in the Beginner Books and Bright and Early series.

Reviews

[Calista]

Another beginning book about monkeys and drums and hands. The monkeys are funny here and got laughs out of the kids. It was a fun book had by all. The nephew gave this 4 stars; the niece would not read it.

[Matt]

After a hiatus, Neo is back to do some reading aloud. He’s chosen some of the ‘Seuss-themed’ books, helping him with his rhyming words and also allowing him to be a tad silly. This book, quite popular in its own right, has a handful of monkeys working on drumming and humming while using their fingers and thumbs. While there is no real theme, the story builds with more activities and more monkeys, until a million or so are out and making what can only be presumed to be a massive racket. Neo loved the building narrative and the silliness of those monkeys, which kept his attention as he read to me. He thinks this is a great book for children who are learning to read but are “not ready to be totally serious”.

[Dan]

My son had strep throat over the weekend and spent a lot of time in my lap. I read this five or six times in the span of two hours yesterday.

Anyway, I was previously unaware that there are Seuss flavored books that aren't actually written by Doctor Seuss. This one features a lot of monkeys and has a great rhythm when you read it out loud. Dum Ditty Dum Ditty Dum Dum Dum.

[Mariah Roze]

An easy starter book for kids.

[Dustin Luke]

I wanted to like "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb." I'd heard the mumurs. Read the hype. EVERYONE has been talking about it. While it wasn't bad, it doesn't deliver on the hype.

I started off enjoying the book just fine. The first act is solid. Meandering a bit, maybe, but I was with Mr. Perkins. (Yeah, Perkins. Not Seuss. We'll get to that.) But then I get a little lost. The narrative thread is weak. As soon as you get to know one monkey they bring in another. Now, I'm not opposed to having a large cast of characters, I love "12 Angry Men" and "Game of Thrones," but it's almost as though Mr. Perkins doesn't really have a sense of the inner lives of these drumming monkeys. I get the sense that he hasn't done the work on them, hasn't done the character studies. Where did they come from? What was their family life like? Shoe size? What's their favorite kind of pasta? Gnocchi? I don't think Mr. Perkins knows.

That really only gets us through act 2, to be honest. The third act is just a mess. Suddenly there are millions of monkeys and they're all drumming on drums. I really lose track of our main character — who, I might add, is never named, Cormac McCarthy much? — and it's almost as though you can't hear the story of these monkeys over the racket created (figurative and literal) by all the monkeys and all the drumming.

Though the third act really fails for me, I do love the twist ending. Just so you don't hate me I'll throw this out there — SPOILERS AHEAD: Mr. Perkins removes all the millions of monkeys drumming on drums and we end with our original character, "The Monkey," if I may. The Monkey we came to love at first and he sends us out with a quiet, glacially paced "dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum." It's a beautiful turn on our expectations of the genre, it's tendency toward always getting bigger, grander, wanting more. So, while it lost my for large swaths of the book, I give it three stars for a strong opening and helluva close.

One last note: I was dismayed to realize that this isn't even by Dr. Seuss. Theo is now outsourcing his work? Who does he think he is? James Patterson? I'm not buying it. Boo on you, Mr. Suess.

[Kaethe]

The favorite board book at our house. It has a great rhythm. I do wish they'd make a version that has the complete text from the non-board version. I was shocked to discover there was more.

I fully expect to be able to recite this when I'm 102.

***

23 October 2021

Boy was I wrong. A review showed up in my feed, and then shortly thereafter I found our copy with the cover eaten off by teething toddlers. And I didn't get half of it right: not only did I not get bits in order, but I had forgotten the banjos and fiddles entirely.

When I was reading it umpteen times a day for months on end there was never a good opportunity to count and make a note, but I would love to know now how many times I have read it. It is the definitive board book for babies, but we gradually amassed more and borrowed to the limit on two library cards, so eventually it was one of many options (so many Boynton box sets, a Sesame Street set for each of 26 letters, every major and minor holiday).

Highly recommended.

Personal copy

[Jaida]

so nostalgic I loved this as a baby and still love it at 15 lol

[Russell Manley]

This is the energy I’m looking for in my books. 5 stars.

[Aileen]

I actually really enjoy this book.
Its rhyming is fun, repetitive and catchy and a little bit silly which all means my son has loved it ever since I started reading it to him (probably when he was about 6 months old) and aged four he still loves it (and knows it off by heart).

The reason it gets such a low rating is because the pictures, although great, are obviously of chimpanzees. Chimpanzees are not monkeys they are apes.

It annoys me every time I read it.

I do not believe in the primate nested theory that says all apes are monkeys.

My When I was at university just a few years ago they were recognize as a distinct group (and yes I did graduate with a Bachelor of Science) so did understand at least some of what was being taught in lectures. In the words of Beyonce
"if its a monkey then you should've put a tail on it" (or something like that).

[Suzanne]

27 years later my kids can still recite the verses. My husband always found the last pages a disturbing image ....millions of fingers, millions of thumbs, millions of monkeys drumming on drums. A classic.

[Frank]

Millions of monkeys, millions of drums!

[Jim]

I remember this one so well that I had to chant it aloud with a smile on my face. It's been a while. I got a couple of the dum ditty's & hum ditty's confused, but not bad after 20 years. I guess I read it A LOT for most of a decade. Cute pictures, too.

Marg bought 4 of these books for the upcoming grandmonster & asked me to mail them. I had to read them first. They're in a nifty 4"x6" thick cardboard format, unlike the ones we had for our kids. Hopefully harder for little fingers to tear.

[Margaret Chind]

Rhythm and music to a beat. Definitely one for me to read in an animated manner (don't you wish you were a fly on the wall...). We have read only the board book so I do not know what would differ in the beginner book.

[Isaiah Wesenberg]

This book was dum ditty dumb.

[John Charles Myers]

Mom and Dad like to sing this book in harmonization and because of it I will never be an iPad kid.

[Ronan Crutchfield]

I thought this book was fun! My favorite page had millions of monkeys on it!

[Sean Gibson]

This book gets bonus points for being my son's first favorite book (granted, he was all of 12 months old at the time). This tome's got rhythm, though--I'll give it that...

[Brett Shand]

Recommended to me by my daughter who loves this book. This was obviously a playground for the author to experiment with different ideas. It was fun thematically but the plot was a mess. The end was a bit of a fun twist, the monkey actually never moved and was alone the entire time. My theory is that it was a sort of dream sequence or delusion. Published in 1969 it was certainly not the first to play with themes of parallel universes and time travel but it seems to me that this book very well could have been the inspiration for sci fi classics like Inception, 12 Monkeys, and Dark Matter.

[Becky]

First sentence: Hand hand fingers thumb. One thumb one thumb drumming on a drum. One hand two hands drumming on a drum. Dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum.

Premise/plot: What starts out as one monkey joyfully drumming ends with millions of monkeys jamming away on their drums. Perkins' book is a jazzy treat that delights readers old and new.

Favorite quotes:
"Hello Jack." "Hello Jake." Shake hands shake hands. Shake! Shake! Shake!

Hand in hand more monkeys come. Many more fingers. Many more thumbs. Many more monkeys. Many more drums. Millions of fingers! Millions of thumbs! Millions of monkeys drumming on drums!

My thoughts: Everything I learned about rhythm and rhyme I learned by reading this one. An exaggeration perhaps, there is also Dr. Seuss. But I tend to judge the quality of all other picture books attempting rhythm with this one. Most fail horribly. There is just something magical about this one. Yes, I grew up with it. Yes, I quote it all the time. I think the book is timeless and just about perfect.

Have you read it? What did you think?

Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 5 out of 5
Total: 10 out of 10

[J Austill]

This book deserves 5 stars just from the sentimental value. It was one of two books that I bought for my daughter while she was in the womb and it was the very first book for her to become infatuated with.

It is a very simple book, with a great rhythm. It's about drumming and the words perfectly mimic drumming. For target ages, my daughter still loves it and she is 4 but she started liking it pretty much immediately after birth.

So, this is a great first book.

[R.]

The biological limitations of anthropoids. A hand, and another hand. Fingers on each. The thumb; the opposable thumb. An anatomy lesson for your little tommy, your little leslie and, ultimately, a primate primer, a reminder, por vous.

[J9]

With Dr. Seuss like illustrations, the best part of this book was the rhyming rhythmic poetry that made the kids repeat every page. They added their own drumbeats by beating on the table and loved the bring colors that accompanied each page. One our whole family could enjoy.

[Kellee Moye]

Trent loves this book so much, and we read it over and over, so I really should want to give it 4 or 5 stars, but.... GOSH DARN IT, THOSE AREN'T MONKEYS! THEY ARE APES! I'm sticking by my convictions and giving it only 3 stars!

[Books Ring Mah Bell]

hands play fiddles zum zum zum. hand in hand more monkeys come!

I hope someday my son will appreciate all the books I read to him.

[Johnboy Parker]

IGA, we need more bananas!!!!
This was an cute read

[Skylar Burris]

This is one of those rare children's books I really don't mind reading over and over and over again, because it is so wonderfully rhythmic. I could chant it in my sleep.

[Bam cooks the books]

My grandson loves the repetition of sounds.

[Marta]

As someone who finds monkeys creepy and terrifying, this is my worst nightmare, particularly the second to last page (iykyk)....but Mel loves it and all the monkey booties so I guess it's alright. Points for banjos...

[Cat]

What child or adult can resist reading this rhythmic story? Love all the monkeys drumming! great rhyme, great illustrations!

[Julie Mesquita]

I love it since I was 8 months old. Mommy sings the words like a song and I keep tapping the book with my hands or thumbs accompanying the story. I don't read it often anymore, now that I am 2 and a half, but I sure loved it for a while.