“The night before Joslyn started Kindergarten we read the book,” she said. Her daughter Joslyn was born in 2005, and Melissa kept that promise. “ The Kissing Hand was a book I read in a Children’s Literature course in college, and I promised myself that when I had children, I would read this book the night before their first day of school,” she told SheKnows. Originally from New York, and with a degree in Fine Art and Design from Carnegie Mellon University, she worked in many areas including historical illustration, children’s books, and magazines, cartooning, portraiture, wildlife illustration, natural sciences, advertising, fantasy, and science fiction.For Melissa, the recommendation isn’t just professional it’s personal. She is also highly sought after as a conference keynote speaker by groups of teachers and other professionals who work with children.Īn award-winning illustrator, Barbara Leonard Gibson was a freelance artist in the Baltimore-Washington area for twenty-five years. Raccoon's secret for making a child feel safe and secure.Īudrey Penn takes her one-woman educational program, the Writing Penn, into schools, libraries, and children’s hospitals where she shapes and refines her story ideas in partnership with kids.

With illustrations by Barbara Gibson that capture the warmth and beauty of the original artwork, toddlers now share in the benefits from Mrs. A Kissing Hand for Chester Raccoon conveys the heart of the story in rhyming verse, perfect for read-aloud and easy for even the little ones to remember and recite. It's Mommy saying, 'I love you,' wherever you may go.' The Kissing Hand has become a children's classic that has touched the lives of millions of children and their parents. 'With a Kissing Hand,' said Chester's mom, 'We'll never be apart.' 'Just press your hand upon your cheek and feel that loving glow. Chester could feel his mother's kiss leap straight into his heart.

Now younger children can get in on Mama Raccoon's secret and find comfort in A Kissing Hand for Chester Raccoon, a board-book adaptation of the original picture book. During the last 20 years, parents and teachers have passed along the secret of the Kissing Hand to children facing first days of kindergarten, first grade, and other separations.

The kissing hand author