I Love My Hair (2001)
Natasha Anastasia Tarpley
Illustrated by E.B. Lewis
This story about embracing oneself is beautifully depicted with surreal scenes balanced with realistic images of family. Keyana, the African American girl in the story echoes her mother’s words throughout the text. Her mom tells her that “you can wear any style you choose,” and soon after the book is taken over by surreal images that appear to be from the child’s imagination. Her mother says she can “spin her hair” into fine thread, and the image depicts the little girl sitting before a spinning wheel with her hair connected to it in a long thread. Her hair becomes part of the scenery in a garden depicting corn rows on another double page spread. Lewis has created a set of surprising images to accompany the empowering narrative.
The narration includes the “clicky-clacky” sound that Keyana's beads make as she moves, and the girl proclaims that she can “let my hair be free, do what it wants.” Endpages feature images in primary colors of the combs, clips and rubber bands used to style hair.
No comments:
Post a Comment