My Hair

by Hannah Lee, Allen Fatimaharan (Illustrator)

Overview

Join one little girl's search for the BEST party hair - as demonstrated by her family and friends.

Will it be dreads or a twist out? Braids or a high-top fade? Joyous and vibrant, this captures perfectly the excitement of getting ready for a celebration, as well as showcasing a dazzling array of intricate hairstyles.

This is a glorious debut from an exciting new partnership who both emerged from the FAB Prize for undiscovered BAME writers and illustrators.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780571346868
Publisher:	Faber & Faber Children's
Publication date:	09/17/2019
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	NP (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 Months to 5 Years

About the Author

Hannah Lee was born in London, where she still lives. She always loved books, but yearned to see more stories that featured children like her – so now she is writing them! My Hair is her debut picture book, which was Highly Commended in the 2017 FAB Prize for writing.
Allen Fatimaharan was born in Sri Lanka, but grew up in Southern India and France. Now living in the UK, he works as an illustrator and animator. In 2018 he won second place in the FAB Prize for illustration. My Hair is his first picture book.

Read an Excerpt

My birthday’s coming up so soon,
I’ll need new clothes to wear.
But most of all, I need to know,
How shall I style my hair

Editorial Reviews

2019-07-28
A black child thinks of all the hairstyles she knows as she tries to decide how to wear her hair for her birthday in this British import.

The narrator's parents take her to the hairdresser, where the child looks at magazines and then starts to think about all the hairstyles she has seen on her family and friends. Her mom wears "dazzling dreadlocks," her sister experiments with "Bantu knots, a high top fade, braids." She runs through the looks on boys and men too: her brothers' designed cornrows, her father's clean-shaved head and full beard, her uncle's waves, preserved with a do-rag. An aunt's short shave, Grandpa's turbans, a friend's twist-out…everyone's hair is beautiful, but the child still doesn't know what to choose for herself. Finally, Mommy whispers to her, and she knows what style to wear. The rhyming text is upbeat and fun to read despite a few dips in the rhythm. The fanciful, stylized illustrations make large, dramatic shapes of the hairstyles on people (almost all of whom present black) and their pets, with lines and squiggles emphasizing texture and volume. Each character has a distinct personality, and all seem to rejoice in their hair and the process of caring for it. The narrator, her loved ones, and their culture are eminently likable, making this a joyful read.

On par with other books on the subject, this celebration of black hair, culture, and community is one to share. (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews