A young girl learns to love her difficult-to-manage, voluminous hair. Olive Senior is a Commonwealth Prize-winning Jamaican-Canadian author who has published many fiction works including novels, short story collections and poetry as well as non-fiction books. Her other children's books include Birthday Suit (2012) and Anna Carries Water (2013). - (Baker & Taylor)
Young Jamilla hates her hair because it doesn't behave like the other girls' hair, but soon her mom shows her how wonderful it can be. - (Baker & Taylor)
In this picture book, a young black girl learns to love her difficult-to-manage hair. - (Orca Book Publishers)
In this vibrant and exquisitely illustrated picture book, written by Commonwealth Prize-winning Jamaican-Canadian Olive Senior, and with pictures by the acclaimed artist Laura James (the team that created Anna Carries Water), a young girl learns to love her difficult-to-manage, voluminous and boonoonoonous hair. - (Orca Book Publishers)
Booklist Reviews
The creative team that brought readers Anna Carries Water (2013) reunites to tell a story of a Jamaican child learning to accept her hair. Jamilla's mother goes to great lengths to help her daughter embrace her "electric, kinetic" hair, which Jamilla counters is a pain to tame. However, her mother's offer to give her daughter a different hairstyle every day effectively wins Jamilla over and demonstrates the wonderous potential of her hair. The versatility of Black hair is celebrated and showcased through the cornrows, braids, plaits, afro puffs, twists, bow-adorned afro, and straight hair that Jamilla wears throughout the book. While young readers may sympathize or identify with Jamilla's initial wish to have long, flowing locks like the other girls in her class, they excitedly watch her come to embrace her "fantabulous, splendiferous, boonoonoonous" hair. This story fits into any unit or collection about Black hair and can be paired with Natasha Anastasia Tarpley's I Love My Hair (1998), Sharee Miller's Princess Hair (2017), and Matthew A. Cherry's Hair Love (2019). Preschool-Grade 1. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
Jamilla's mom has many reasons why Jamilla should not hate her hair in this lively Canadian import. It's time to do her hair before school, and Jamilla hides the comb inside her puffy hair. She hates her hair; "It hurts. It's a pain." She wants to know why she has "bad" hair instead of "good hair" that's "long and soft and pretty" like her classmates'. Her mother tells her it's silly to want their hair when "the most fantabulous, splendiferous, boonoonoonous hair in the world is right here." They agree that if she doesn't cry or hide the comb anymore, Jamilla can wear her hair in a different style every day of the year. A week's worth of hairstyles is pictured—including puffs, braids, cornrows, twists, a "wild" Afro, and, for Sunday, in ribbons as "Grandmother's child." James' illustrations use strong lines, stylized facial features, and bold colors, with backgrounds of turquoise and yellow. They show the young black girl in various settings—a park, an art museum, a playground. The titular adjective will require translation for those unfamiliar with Jamaican pat ois, and the idea of changing hairstyles daily overlooks the effort that goes into each. Still, the energy between mother and child is infectious, and the rhythmic text is great fun to read. This girl's road to self-acceptance is playful, easy, and filled with love. (Picture book. 5-9) Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
