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jshettel's review
4.0
Every day I learn something new. Today I learned of the Tehuelche tribe from South America. Although this is a fictional story, I love that the authors curiosity was so piqued by the real-life Cave of Hands that he imagined this story of how the lone foot painted amidst all the hands might have come to be. Beautifully illustrated by William Low.
rosepetals1984's review
4.0
Quick, lovely read. I went to the library to look up some stories based in Argentina and found a children's book based in Patagonia. "Ghost Hands" is written by T.A. Barron, and the beautiful, color illustrations were drawn by William Low. The tale is about a boy named Auki, of the Tehuelche tribe, who defies his family wanting to prove his worth as a hunter. Yet a dangerous encounter with a puma leaves him in a tough spot. It also leads to a discovery of a cave with many painted hands, and evolves into something of a coming of age for the boy. This tale is supposed to be a fictional anecdote to the mystery of the actual Cueva de los Manos (Cave of the Hands) that's located in Patagonia, where there are many hands but only one footprint. I personally enjoy the story. I do wish that we knew the reason for the lone footprint in the cave, as well as heard more stories from the Tehuelche tribe, but I appreciated Barron and Low's contributions in this story. It was well done.
Overall score: 4/5
Overall score: 4/5
satyridae's review
4.0
I really liked the story. The illustrations were okay but not stellar. The real strength here was the narrative, bringing a fairly plausible (and heroic!) explanation to why there's just one foot painted in the Cave of the Hands in Patagonia. I love books that bring ancient history to little kids in an engaging fashion, and Barron does that here. 3.5
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