I Love My Hair!

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Summary: I Love My Hair
Review: A little African American girl named Keyana narrates this delightful story about celebrating your identity and accepting differences. Keyana describes her mother combing and styling her hair. She is upset about how uncomfortable and painful it is for her mother to do her hair; she wishes she had different hair. Her mother goes on to tell her how lucky she is to have her hair just the way it is. I Love My Hair is a great way to introduce children to embracing differences. The illustrations were beautifully drawn and helped the reader "see " why Keyana had the feelings described in the story. Young African-American readers will be able to relate to the characters, and non African-American readers can gain some insight into an experience that many African-American girls go through. The vocabulary introduces words that many children may not be familiar with; however, the illustrations depict what the author is describing. This would make a wonderful addition to a classroom library.

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Summary: Hooray for Ethnic Hair!
Review: As the cacausian mother of an African-American daughter, I am grateful for this book. My daughter hates having her hair combed. She has always cried and begged me not to do it. So I bought this book. Now she looks at the pictures and reads about Keyana and her hair while I comb through her own. It not only gives her something to do, but she doesn't feel singled out any more! Thank you to the makers of this title.

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Summary: A Reflective Commentary On I Love My Hair
Review: Roethler, Jacque. "Reading in Color: Children's Book Illustrations and Identity Formation for Black Children in the United States." African America Review 32.1 (1998): 95-104. Tarpley, Natasha Anastasia. I Love My Hair. Illus. E. B. Lewis. Canada: Little, Brown and Company 1998. In I Love My Hair, the author reflects on a little girl's experience of her mother fixing her hair. Although Keyana's experience of getting her hair fixed is not always pleasant, the outcome is always pleasing. While Keyana's mother fixes her hair, she tells Keyana how beautiful her hair is and that she is lucky to have the kind of hair that she does. Once when Keyana's mother fixes her hair in an afro, the kids at school teased her, but then her teacher told her that she should be proud of her hair and that the afro style is a statement of pride in her African heritage. Through her mother's and her teacher's encouragement, Keyana learns to appreciate and love her hair as well as herself. I like this book for various reasons. First the main character is Afro-American. During my childhood, I was not exposed to books in which the main characters and illustrations reflected African American culture and values. The beginning of I Love My Hair depicts a situation that is so familiar among African American communities: Keyana sits between her mother's legs, squeezing her eyes together as her mother combs her hair. I became nostalgic while I read that page. I believe that literature containing African Americans as central characters is vital for African American children. This view is also shared by Jacque Roethler who, in her article "Reading in Color: Children's Book Illustrations and Identity Formation for Black Children in the United States" declares that children are sensitive to illustrations. She says that one of the ways in which Afro-American children develop their schemata is through illustrations in literature. This statement alone conveys how important it is to have Afro-American characters in literature. Roethler goes even further to say that the absence of Afro-Americans from literature and illustrations is detrimental because it makes Afro-Americans invisible in society. It is important to have Afro-Americans as main characters in literature, but it is more essential that their presence be positive. Many people perceive African American physical features as ugly or in need of correcting. In I Love My Hair, Tarpley takes one of these features and refutes its long-lived misconception. In this book, Tarpley tells of the natural beauty of Afro-Americans' kinky hair texture, thus countering the myth that most Afro-American females in today's society were brought up to believe: that if you don't have "good hair" (not kinky and fuzzy), then you must straighten or relax your hair to make it beautiful. Tarpley describes the beauty of Afro-American hair when Keyana's mother tells her that because she has this kind of hair, she can fix it in any style she wishes. Her mother continues to tell her that never will she be restricted to one style: one day, she can plant rows of braids in it like rows of vegetables in a garden; the next, she can have two ponytails on the side like wings to fly away. Just as the comparisons of her hair to nature portray the naturalness and beauty of her hair because nature is beautiful, the multifaceted nature of Keyana's hair also symbolizes the versatility of the African American people. This is another reason that this book is so enjoyable. Finally, E.B. Lewis' illustrations communicate the essence of what Tarpley describes in words. The cover of this book shows Keyana smiling, with her hair in small braids with red and blue beads on the ends. In this picture, Lewis makes visible the stray strands on Keyana's braids. This picture is so beautiful to me because it looks real. The familiarity and realism of the scenes in this picture made me wonder about Lewis's race. Because of the way these illustrations capture the experience of "hair fixing," I concluded that Lewis is indeed Afro-American. . Roethler states that Afro-American illustrators, having first-hand experience, seem to know what fits naturally and are able to "touch chords" that illustrators from other cultures may not be able to caress (Roethler 98). For instance, the afro-picks, hair bows, beads, twisters, and grease are objects that African Americans associated with hair fixing and these are all pictures that appear in this book. In an illustration, Keyana's skipping down the sidewalk and in the background two girls are playing a hand game like "Miss Mary Mack". Hand games are a common tradition among African American communities. These are some things that illustrators from other cultures may not have captured. I Love My Hair captures the African American community in a positive way. This book promote the messages of accepting and loving one's self and accepting other peoples differences. Tarpley does a wonderful job of taking what is often seen as negative and showing where it is actually positive. More books of this caliber are needed.