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HANNAH'S HELPING HANDS by Jean Van Leeuwen

HANNAH'S HELPING HANDS

by Jean Van Leeuwen

Pub Date: Sept. 1st, 1999
ISBN: 0-8037-2447-0
Publisher: Putnam

From Van Leeuwen (Hannah of Fairfield, p. 73, etc.), a second heartwarming portrait of a colonial girl and her family struggling to meet the challenges of pioneer life during the Revolutionary War. Although Hannah misses her older brother, Ben, who is off fighting the British, there is no time to brood. First the lively ten-year-old joins in the spring-cleaning, then it’s time to pluck the geese, shear the sheep, spin the wool into yarn, make dye, and finally color skein after skein until “Hannah felt as if she were sitting in the middle of a rainbow.” While Hannah works, she marvels at what she sees as the seat of her mother’s competence, her hands. “They were so small, yet they could do so many things. . . . They spun and wove and sewed. They scrubbed and dug in the garden. . . . Strong hands. Gentle hands. . . . Helping hands.” In the course of this simply written but involving and evocative novel, Hannah learns that she also has helping hands, a way with animals, and a gift for healing. The story ends with a robust climax based on a true historic incident—the razing of Fairfield, Connecticut, by British soldiers. It’s a fiery, realistic finish, but it will be the day-to-day details and how-to of colonial life that will keep readers intrigued. (b&w illustrations, not seen, map) (Fiction. 7-10)