I {heart} Hair.

My kiddos now love these books...so do I! Read. The real message is so real. It's adult reading!

Nappy Hair
by Carolivia Herron, Illustrated by Joe Cepeda
The cover painting of a little black girl with an impressive if not amazing head of hair will certainly attract attention, but the free-flowing, conversational narrative written in the African-American tradition of call-and-response also exerts a pull. The text touches on such topics as God, family, Africa, slavery, and, of course, hair: "Them some willful intentional naps you got all over your head. Sure enough. Your hair intended to be nappy. Indeed it did." The artwork, too, is energetic. Cepada's vibrant, folk-art-style paintings have a strong sense of color, form, and design.

I Love My Hair!
by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley
Every night before she goes to bed, Keyana sits down between her mother's knees to have her hair combed. But no matter how gently Mama pulls, it sometimes still hurts! Keyana doesn't feel lucky to have such a head of hair, but Mama says she is because she can wear it any way she chooses. "I can spin you hair into fine, soft yarn, just like our grandmothers did at their spinning wheels," she tells her. "Or I can part your hair into straight lines and plant rows of braids along your scalp, the way we plant seeds in our garden." Soon Keyana, too, finds reasons to love her hair, and she wears it any way she chooses with pride.