Nappy Hair By Carolivia Herron

This controversial picture book points out that black people have hair that can be nappy. The cover of the book has a young black girl who is looking up at her dark hair with the title "Nappy Hair" written in white to stand out. The background is red, which compliments the dark color of her hair. The endpaper is white and has a picture of the young girl skipping along withe the title colored with primary colors. The story begins with an old man stating that the story happened at a backyard party. I thought this to be helpful for me as a reader to think that this was a "true story" and that young black girls go through situations similar to the one in the book. The illustrations have very little white in them, the sky is even a bright colored orange and sometimes purple. I think that the illustrator did this because the people in the book are of black skin and the orange goes well with brown. Because the story took place at a backyard picnic, there are two different fonts in the book. One font is what the family says to the girl, and the other is the girls response. If I were to read this book to my class, I think it would be a good way to the students to get involved by staying the young girls response. I think that this book shows that everyone is different, include their hair and it is okay. This book could teach a lesson that looks and images are not important and sometimes it is out of a persons control, like the girls hair. I think it was a happy ending because the young girl was proud of her uniqueness and dealt with the fact that she had nappy hair.