He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

This picture book's surprisingly intimate interpretation of the well-known spiritual makes it accessible to young children and their own "whole world." Nelson uses pencils, oils, and watercolors to create a series of striking, beautifully composed pictures. The opening scene of sun just visible beyond the arc of the earth in space gives way to a San Francisco cityscape with the sun against the skyline. With the words, "He's got my brothers and my sisters in His hands," the pictures introduce an African American boy holding up a childlike portrait of his multi-ethnic family. His fingers on the sides of the picture visually echo God's hands supporting his brothers and sisters in the song.
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A series of double-page spreads show the boy with family (particularly his father) engaged in a variety of activities: flying kites, fishing, doing a jigsaw puzzle of the earth. In the end, the scenes move away from the immediate family, enlarging the child's vision to include a park full of people, a hillside of homes by the bay, and finally, a shuttle's-eye view of the earth's curve, with the moon and stars lying beyond. The last double-page spread carries the piano music and four verses of the song, followed by a historical note. Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for illustration for Ellington Was Not a Street (2004).
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Author and illustrator: Kadir Nelson. 32 pp. Hardcover. Publisher: Dial, 2005.
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Approx. 10 x 10 x 0.5 inches.
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Ages 9-12.