THE FLYING HAND OF MARCO B.

Just how high can a wayward hand fly?

Marco B. and his family are on a road trip. With his window rolled down, he sticks his hand out and lets it glide and soar on the breezes. “My fingers float without a care / But as I’m swooping through the air / My mommy’s voice yells from afar, / ‘Please get your hand back in the car!’ ” But his parents just don’t understand that his hand just has to fly. The last time it sneaks out, Marco’s sucked out too. He soars above the car, then above the town, then he’s above the Earth with the astronauts and ETs, and he’s scared. “If only I could make this end / I’d NEVER fly the hand again. / I curl into a little ball / And just like that… / …I start to fall.” He zooms back to the car and promises himself he won’t fly his hand again…but that may not be a promise he can keep. Musician and adman Leiter’s debut’s a rhyming romp of creative play, and Marco’s quick trip into the sky will be familiar to imaginative tots. Israeli illustrator Kober’s soaring, colorful illustrations are an ideal match. He renders Marco with light-brown skin and short, straight black hair that almost comes to a kewpie curl in front.

Little listeners will be hoping their hands will take flight on their next road trips.