Can I Touch Your Hair?

Summary

Two unlikely students were the last ones to partner up for a Poem Project. Irene and Charles must learn to work together on a project. They start with topics they have in common. Shoes where they discuss their interests in regard to shoes and fitting in. Hair where Irene discusses how she wanted curly hair while Charles discusses why he hates when people touch his hair without permission. Other topics include church, gym class, beach, playground, ghosts, and others.

Theme(s):

Struggles against pressures of society, overcoming adversity, friendship, racism, traditions

Personal Response

This might have been the best book I’ve read this year. Can I Touch Your Hair explores a fictional scenario where the authors, Irene Latham and Charles Waters are exploring race and their experiences in relatable ways. One thing I noticed is the illustrators were the same people who wrote (Selina Alko) and illustrated The Case For Loving (Sean Qualls). I found Irene’s poems more relatable for me being white but Charles poems remind me of something my students would write. Overall very relatable

Teaching Ideas

This story would be perfect for poetry month! I can see myself bringing this out to correlate with accepting our differences unit in commonlit. This would be a great comparison activity to discuss the differences between Irene’s and Charles’s points of view and traditions. This reading would pair nicely with a restorative circle on what we love about ourselves and our cultures. I would also pair this poetry book with my students writing a poem just like Irene and Charles did with a partner.

BOOK.tique