Summary
This beautiful picture book about differences in culture goes along with two young girls. One Black and one non-Black Puerto Rican where one girl has curly hair that resists being flattened and the other who has hair that cannot make up its mind. While playing hair salon, the girls discover all the different stories that hair can hold. They look to their ancestors, moms, and people in their neighborhoods for inspiration which leads to the idea of different stories that come from all.
Theme(s):
Self-love, Community, Female Friendship
Personal Response
This book is absolutely beautiful. Both girls start off playing hair salon and taking inspiration from many around them. I love that the author and illustrator based this on their experiences growing up because this gives students something to relate to. The illustrator used tissue paper to show the various textures and colors needed to show the difference in each characters hair. This book reminded me of Don’t Touch My Hair by Sharee Miller by sharing the differences in hair.
Teaching Ideas
I would integrate this in my teaching when discussing cultural differences. I could read multiple books about multiple ethnicities and cultures and then have students create family portraits. We would then display the family portraits which would even more reveal that everyone is different but that is okay because we are all still so loved and matter so much. I would then have students assigned to another student and have them write down what they liked or enjoyed about their peers portrait.
Recommended Reading Level
Grade 01, Grade 02, Grade 03
