RATING: 🟢 Recommended
REVIEWER: Amaya Krasnitz
REVIEW METHODOLOGY: Louise Derman-Spark's Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children's Books
Happy to Be Nappy, written by bell hooks and illustrated by Chris Rashka is a dynamic picture book that celebrates the beauty and cultural significance of Black hair. With Black girls as the primary audience, the book features a Black girl and her friends, each with unique and beautiful hairstyles, showcasing the diversity and richness of Black hair culture.
Black girls come from all walks of life, each carrying a specialized crown designated just for them. Happy to be Nappy showcases the beauty of a Black girl's crown; bell hooks, a globally renowned Black author, educator, and critical theorist, wrote the book. She highlights and chooses powerful words, such as "A Halo, a Crown, A covering," to describe Black girl hair. Not only does she include multiple ethnicities, but she also describes the power behind the hair through illustration and written words.
Happy to be Nappy is a powerful narrative that empowers its readers with a message of self-acceptance and pride. It illustrates the struggle and triumph of Black girls in embracing their unique beauty in a world that tries to limit them. The book's moral of appreciating one's true self and wearing one's beauty with pride is a source of inspiration for all.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
REVIEWER BIO: Amaya was a student Portland State University and took Zapoura Newton-Calvert's Social Justice in K12 Education course. Their volunteer work was a partnership with Reading Is Resistance and the Social Justice Books Project from Teaching for Change.
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