Good Hair? Bad Hair? How About MAGIC HAIR?

 I'll include some "anchors in time" at the end of this post, but I can't wait a moment longer to celebrate this book!

PAGE STREET KIDS, 2020

If this cover doesn't knock your socks off, I don't know what will.

Before discussing it, I need to share a few things about me. I became a feminist in kindergarten, in mid-century, midwest America. I entered kindergarten feeling eager and excited, because my older siblings were already in school, I entered knowing how to read and write and count, and I was PUMPED! 

What I found were endlessly annoying half-days of boredom. 

Boredom, because we took naps (NO!), had a few structured lessons that were overly simple, a teacher whose read-aloud style was dull (compared to my parents!), milk that was lukewarm, and most of our time spent in activity centers or on the playground. 

Annoying because of those activity centers and playground: 

"GIRLS" corner had kid-sized domestic items and clothing, including "girl" roles like nurse or teacher, several aprons, and a raggedy tutu. 

"BOYS" corner had vehicles, building stuff, career clothing of every sort (police, doctor, fireman, pilot, and, sorry to say, cowboy and "Indian" gear), "pretend" weapons, and THE ART EASEL! 

PLAYGROUND was similarly designated by rules about gender-separated separate categories. Boys used the climbing and ball sports equipment, girls could swing or play hopscotch.

I felt it was necessary to write all of that first, because after that I never looked back. That was ahead of the curve for feminist activism, but since kindergarten i've been devoted to the then-popular ANNIE GET YOUR GUN song- "ANYTHING YOU CAN DO I CAN DO BETTER", aimed at male audiences. Yay, Debbie Reynolds!

Which brings me back to the picture book above.  It is ALL ABOUT ATTITUDE! I'm a white person with dishwater blonde hair that has been of little consequence in my life, until I reached an age in which it is thinning to a point of absurdity. The only time I had to deal with hair-out-of-control was for several miserable weeks following a home perm (in first grade) that was so over-timed that it probably should have rendered me bald. Instead, I took what little comfort I could from the fact that my older sister had the same results and she was at a much more vulnerable age- tween. 

What I lacked about my massive head of curls was ATTITUDE. 

Look at the face of the girl on the cover. MY HAIR IS MAGIC is all about owning who you are and where you stand in the world, in your own identity and in relation to others. She cares not a bit about any designation of which corner you belong in- based on hair type, body/size, skin color, features, gender identity, or any other "othering".

The last line of the limited and lyrical text is "My HAIR is ME!"  

All of the lovely lines leading to that proclamation indicate the same thing, but in ways are launched with an expansive and specific view of this girl-in-the-world. Each spread offers a few lines in rhyme or near rhyme that present interactions with people in her world who for some reason feel empowered to ask questions, express opinions, and imply judgments about the speaker and her choices. Author M. L. Marroquin captures the confidence and resilience of this girl perfectly, while illustrator Tonya Engel celebrates those convictions with empowering and undeniable audacity.

This first-person voiced character launches her exciting and enthusiastic ownership statements by repeating the things she hears: (Why is your hair so big? Can I touch it? Is it rough? Don't you get hot under there? How do you comb it? Why is it so...?) The best part of this, to me, is that those questions come from her friends, neighbors, and even strangers, most of whom are not White. The author voices what should readily be seen as very inappropriate questions from others by commenting more specifically on the style choice of the speaker. Her hair, to them, seems notably... "twisty... complicated... wild... spirally... soft... frizzy...",among other labels, all of which reflect judgments about natural hair in any style. 

The text and illustrations on the penultimate page of text and image:

"I say,

'My hair is natural.

My hair is beautiful.

My hair is free..."

The illustrations on this double spread suggests her empowered position to shake loose form the many outside voices to proclaim her identity, her confidence, her place in the world. 

There is magic in this new picture book, in its approach to her identity and to her choices about natural hair, specific and universal. It can (and should) become an anthem for all who feel questioned, judged, challenged, or "othered" by anyone else in the world. This offers a brilliant template for mentor writing to fully claim any and all of her identity. It also provides a gorgeous array of inspiring images for artful expressions of those identities. 

I began this post with my personal experiences in recognizing the constraints I faced in kindergarten based on gender. That was my way of setting the stage for recommending this book for all ages, including teens and adults, and all ethnicities and identities. Our acceptance of others is contingent on our acceptance of ourselves. This character makes no effort to commend her style choices to others, but stands very firm and joyous in her ownership of who she is, what she chooses, and how she stands in the world. We can all learn a great deal from her, while marveling at a gorgeous and important new picture book.

Anchor in time:

This week the USA elected a new president and vice-president, who will take office in January. Watching social media clips of girls and women seeing themselves in the first (but not last) woman vice-president elected in this country was joyous. I was especially excited for those People of Color who watched TWO glass ceilings come crashing down. 

There is so much work ahead in so many spheres (Covid19, social justice, social bridge-building, restoring the economy, and  many more). Even so, in fact MORE SO, picture books like this one contain the building blocks for a better world. And they are not separated into corners labeled GIRLS or BOYS.