Little girls pretending to be princesses celebrate the different shapes, textures, and styles of their black hair. - (Baker & Taylor)
Celebrates the beauty and diversity of African American hair, encouraging self-confidence and showing that every type of hair can be princess hair. - (Baker & Taylor)
Princesses with curls wear pearls. Princesses with head wraps take long naps. And princesses with teeny-weeny Afros wear teeny-weeny bows.
Celebrate different hair shapes, textures, and styles in this self-affirming picture book! From dreadlocks to blowouts to braids, Princess Hair shines a spotlight on the beauty and diversity of black hair, showing young readers that every kind of hair is princess hair.
Debut author-illustrator Sharee Miller encourages confidence and pride in this playful, colorful picture book that teaches readers to love every bit of themselves. - (Grand Central Pub)
Sharee Miller has a BFA in communication design from Pratt Institute. She lives in Brooklyn, where she enjoys spending time with her two cats and illustrating fun stories. Sharee is the author and illustrator of Princess Hair. She invites you to visit her website at shareemiller.com and her Instagram @coilyandcute. - (Grand Central Pub)
Booklist Reviews
From blow outs to teeny-weeny afros, all princess hair is good hair in Miller's bright, energetic ode to black girls and their hair. Here we find a cadre of princesses, all with varying crowns sitting atop even more varied stylings. It's clear Miller means to showcase the versatility of black hair: in color, texture and mood. The 'frohawked princesses rock out with their guitars, and those with puffs pretend to be robots and race-car drivers in costumes made from cardboard boxes. The text showcases each newly described hairstyle in bold, multicolor font. Each reveal is a celebration. Even the princesses napping in colorful head wraps seem to dream vividly in their prone positions. Much like bell hooks' Happy to Be Nappy (1999), there's no plot to speak of, but instead an impressive list of delightfully styled and affirming tresses and the hobbies that occupy their owners. Slightly older princesses interested in creating their own styles might find Joël Benjamin's Twists, Braids, and Ponytails (2017) a fun starting point on their own hair journeys. Copyright 2018 Booklist Reviews.
Horn Book Guide Reviews
In this playful celebration of African American hair and hairstyles, Miller pairs her vivid watercolor illustrations with a lively text acknowledging the beautiful textural diversity in hair. Engaging in all types of activities, the "princesses" pictured in the book also represent a variety of skin tones, so nearly every curly-girl can find herself somewhere in its pages. Copyright 2018 Horn Book Guide Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
After decades of white princesses' domination of American fairy tales, Miller expands the vision of what princess hair can look like to black girls. Spread by double-page spread, the book highlights a multitude of diverse hairstyles while young girls play dress-up, all the while wearing their princess crowns. From twist outs to blowouts, dreadlocks to curls, Bantu knots to Afros, this is an all-out celebration of black hair. Deconstructing stereotypes, Miller takes the narrative beyond hair, portraying girls in their pretend play as young artists, thinkers, bakers, and even rock stars sporting a wide array of frohawks. The girls depicted in her ink-and-watercolor illustrations range in skin tone from dark brown to very light, and their hair ranges likewise from black to light brown and red. The text is simple, effectively a catalog of hairstyles, each one printed in capitalized and colored display type for emphasis. Some, though not all, lines play with internal rhyme: "Princ esses with HEAD WRAPS take long naps. / Princesses with CURLS wear pearls. / And princesses with TEENY-WEENY AFROS wear teeny-weeny bows." A sweet and joyful affirmation of the truth that "NAPPY princesses are HAPPY princesses." (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus 2017 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
