2022-05-11
A friendship is strengthened when one girl shares her hair with another.
For Suri, a bespectacled, brown-skinned girl with cascading curls, hair has been a significant part of her identity. At the park, she befriends Amaya, a brown-skinned girl wearing a headscarf. While doing cartwheels one day, Amaya’s headscarf falls off, revealing that she doesn’t have any hair. Before Suri can return the scarf, Amaya runs away. Suri’s mother explains that hair loss can happen for many reasons and assures Suri that a person can still be beautiful inside and out without hair. But instead of affirming Amaya’s beauty, Suri and her mother visit a salon that makes wigs from donated hair; Amaya is on a waiting list for a wig, so Suri has her hair cut and made into a wig, which she mails to Amaya. Readers don’t learn much more about Amaya other than that she’s happy to have received the wig and returns to the park wearing it, “feeling a boost of confidence, knowing her new best friend had chosen to share her glorious, awesome hair with her.” Suri’s experience is centered; Amaya feels like a prop to allow Suri to be the hero. Though the message about the importance of hair donation is a good one and the graceful watercolors are charming, there are better ways to raise awareness. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An attempt at empowerment that misses the mark. (information on hair loss and hair donation; list of hair donation nonprofits) (Picture book. 3-7)
