Title: Where Hands Go
An Introduction to Safe and Unsafe Touch
by : Krystaelynne Sanders Diggs
Publisher: BooksGoSocial
Genre: Children's Fiction
Pub Date: 10 Jul 2021
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4144095930?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1


Where Hands Go is a book aimed at teaching children what is a safe and unsafe touch. It uses a rhyme to get it's point across with the aid of illustrations.

It is no surprise in 2021 that such a book needs to be written. We may consider our selves a civilized era but in truth the amount of abuse that children have/are going through has only began to surfaces in a way.


Though the premises is a good one I'm not sure if it would work. I would not like it to be graphic in description but I think it might be too gentle for most children to understand. As a survivor I think back to my four year old self and I don;t think I would have understood what was being implied. I probably would have thought it was just something that sounded nice and rhymed. Older children may understand the importance but not all.

The writer is to be commended for the line, "my body is mine and mine alone". As someone who grew up in the Roman Catholic Church we were taught our bodies were god's and not our own. Which lead to issues in later life. Sanders Diggs is already giving the child bodily autonomy.

Setting the book around bath time may also be a problem. this is a time when nakedness is expected. I think if it had other interactions it may have been better. I do see that the author was trying to make it palatable for young kids.

Where Hands Go

This is a good book for parents / care givers to read to under school age children. It's quite Americanized but gets the meaning across in a non threatening way. Would also be good for nursery schools / play groups.

I really enjoyed this book, I think it is a staple for teaching children about what is/isn't okay with touching. It follows the rhyme "head, shoulders,knees, and toes" which was enough to keep my 3 year old invested. The illustrations are beautiful. I will be the Aunt that gives all the kids this book for the holidays.

Cute story with bright pictures. I wasn't sure I was going to like it at the beginning but the rhyming and message were good and age appropriate. A topic that needs addressed and this book did it well.

I thought that this book was very good – it is a simple way to introduce the topic of “touch” to children without making it a huge issue as such or making them uncomfortable. It gets the message over really well and can easily be read as a bedtime story that gives them more to think about. It deals with the subject in a fun and loving way too. I really liked the illustrations in this one too – definitely I book I will be reading with my daughter as she is starting school in September.

Unfortunately, I felt this book was lacking in information, using words children may not understand. I think this book could have had potential.

The concept of this book is excellent, explaining to young children what is appropriate touching and what is not, and the artwork is brilliant. However, I struggled to see which age group would be able to understand this book.

I find with children, saying things about hands straying or being unruly, is not the best way to enable them to understand what we mean. A child doesn't understand that someone's hand straying is necessarily a bad thing, otherwise we wouldn't need the book. I think it needs to be made more transparent what is actually being meant by the author. I appreciate that a certain amount of censorship is needed for such a delicate subject, but I think this book could lead to more misunderstanding by children.

Other than the suggestive language, the rest of the book is written in a very child friendly, easy to understand way. The rhyming verse particularly appeals to younger, pre-school and early years children.

It goes without saying that such topics must be accompanied by a conversation by a parent/guardian. A parent can’t simply rely on the book to do the parenting. I was hoping that this book would serve as a good option for a parent to introduce the topic of safe touch. But it turned out to be a case of “good intention, bad implementation.”

The story is written in rhythmic verse and talks of a little girl who has been taught by her mom where hands should go through a poem. I wasn’t a great fan of the rhymes as they seemed forced and included a couple of words too difficult for children to understand (‘stray’ and ‘unruly’) But more than this, I wasn’t a fan of the information provided. Basically, this poem only states that kids should shout ‘NO’ and run away when ‘hands begin to stray’. But what does ‘straying’ actually mean to a child? What parts of your body would come under that definition? And why is it stated that it is mommy’s duty to protect the child? What if a child doesn’t have a mother? What if the mother is the cruel one? There are many missing bits of information in the content and the book will not provide any effective solution to what should be a very serious message in today’s day and age.
The illustrations are quite adorable and far outshine the content of the book.

I’m not really sure to whom I would recommend this book. It has its heart in the right place but it doesn’t serve the purpose it was intended for. It says too little and leaves a lot on parental shoulders. So I shall not be leaving a feedback for this anywhere except on NetGalley. I don’t wish to hurt the prospects of the book that means well.

Thank you, NetGalley and BooksGoSocial, for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. The illustrations and characters are beautiful. I think the poem is an easy one for young children to memorize. I would love to see a follow-up to this book as a way to dig even deeper into touches that aren’t okay, or even what to do when the feeling of being uncomfortable comes over a young person. But a great start to talking about a subject that needs to be addressed.

Where Hands Go aims to teach children about their physical boundaries and personal autonomy. I love the idea and message of this book and cute illustrations. It is about a mother teaching her young daughter about what kind of touching/behavior is appropriate and shows her mother as supportive protector. However, I wish it explained more, specifically where it is not okay to touch or feeling uncomfortable around adults. This would be a great book for parents to start the conversation with their young children.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

I loved the idea for “ Where Hands Go” and believe it was well executed in manner that is appropriate to young children. The illustrations of the book were beautiful and added to the story

While I love the concept of the book, this one doesn’t do enough to cover the seriousness of the topic. “When hands begin to stray” isn’t much of a guide, especially for a young child. Of course parental conversations are always needed to continue where books leave off but this book just doesn’t provide much to build on. A simple description of “anywhere the swimsuit covers” would be enough for a small child to understand and I wish something like that had been included in the book. Many parents are looking for help in approaching these sensitive topics and, unfortunately, this book does little to provide it. The illustrations were precious., and I do applaud the author for her desire to bring the issue to light.

Many thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is an adorably illustrated book designed to teach children the difference between good and bad touch. As important and visually appealing as this is, it definitely must be accompanied with a serious conversation elaborating because the book is very vague.

This is a book that should be in every child’s library because of the seriousness of the topic of where hands can or shouldn’t go. It is told in rhyme “Head and shoulders, knees and toes....”. Adorable illustrations!
Thanks to Netgalley and Kids Again Foundation for this preview.