Product Description

From famed African American feminist, social critic, and adult author, bell hooks, and award-winning author and illustrator Chris Raschka, comes a new board book edition of Happy to Be Nappy, a celebration of the beauty and joy of "nappy" hair redesigned with block type for easier reading.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #658288 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Board book
• 16 pages

From Amazon.com
Renowned feminist and social critic bell hooks takes on... hair! "Hair for hands to touch and play! Hair to take the gloom away." This rhythmic read-aloud is, on the surface, all about hair: nappy, plaited, long, short, natural, twisted, "soft like cotton, flower petal billowy soft, full of frizz and fuzz." Comb through the surface and find a celebration of childhood and girls and the freedom to express individuality. The rituals implied in the book are rooted in the traditions of hooks's own childhood, when "doing" hair was just as much an excuse for girls to laugh and tell stories and just be together. Going still deeper is the much-needed message encouraging girls to love and accept themselves (and others) just the way they are.

In bell hooks's first venture into children's books, she wisely teams up with Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator Chris Raschka (Yo! Yes?, Mysterious Thelonious). Raschka's bold paint strokes on a color wash background are strikingly original--a perfect match for the exuberant text. This beautiful picture book will surely make any reader, young or old, happy to be nappy--and anyone who raved or ranted over Carolivia Herron and illustrator Joe Cepeda's Nappy Hair will welcome this joyful, celebratory book. (Click to see a sample spread. Text copyright 1999 by bell hooks. Illustrations copyright 1999 by Chris Raschka. With permission of Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children.) (Ages 3 and older) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly
This joyous ode to hair may well restart conversations that began last year with the controversy over Carolivia Herron's Nappy Hair. Bubbling over with affection, and injecting a strong self-esteem boost for girls, hooks's ebullient, poetic text celebrates the innate beauty and freedom of hair that's "soft like cotton,/ flower petal billowy soft, full of frizz and fuzz." Waxing poetic about "short tight naps" or "plaited strands all," hooks conjures all the lovely varieties of hairstyles that "let girls go running free." She sings the praises of "girlpie hair," subtly reinforcing her theme with a chorus of descriptive words like "halo" and "crown." She also evokes the intimate warmth of mother-daughter timeA"sitting still for hands to brush or braid and make the day start hopefully." A powerful, uplifting and, above all, buoyantly fun read-aloud, the text receives a superb visual interpretation by Raschka (Like Likes Like). A master of minimalism, he works here in nuanced, impressionistic watercolors and suggests his subjects with a quick stroke of the brush here, a graceful sweep of line there. Bolstering the theme of individuality, he provides softly shaded washes of varying hue that set off the dazzling array of hairstyles like an aura and create a rhythmic flow of color across the pages. Broad swoops conjure curls and braids, quick stripes of colors make barrettes, and tiny dots create beads. Though clearly of particular interest to African-American girls, the infectious energy and spirit of this volume will appeal to all readers. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-A short, rhythmic tribute to little girls with "nappy" locks. "Girlpie hair smells clean/and sweet/is soft like cotton,/flower petal billowy soft,/full of frizz and fuzz." Raschka's illustrations are a perfect accompaniment to the brief, handwritten cursive text. They bring out the spirit behind hooks's writing and have great child appeal. With only watercolor-washed squares as background, the whimsical figures dance and caper. Reduced to the simplest childlike element, they nevertheless convey emotion and movement with the curve of a mouth or the jut of a hip. Using broad brush strokes, the artist creates fantastic hair that curls, whirls, and flows across the page or flips and piles over heads. This title is sure to invite comparisons to Carolivia Herron's Nappy Hair (Knopf, 1997). Hooks's text is gentler, a single, almost dreamy, literary voice. It is less personal than the lively call-and-response device found in Herron's book, which is full of the loving, yet pointed teasing of a large, close-knit family. Both authors, in their different ways, have written joyous celebrations that give hair a life of its own and encourage self-acceptance.
Karen James, Louisville Free Public Library, KY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Fabulous pictures; get the oversized board book!
My one-year-old son LOVES this book. He hasn't grown into the words quite yet, but he's fascinated by the pictures.

The board book is especially good. It's much bigger than many board books, and my son can pull it out and turn back and forth among the pages on his own. He'll open it to a page and just stare at it for a few minutes, touching the pictures, then pull it open to another random page.

I think it's important for white kids to have books that don't just show them more white kids... and this one has glorious pictures. Lots of bold iamges on spacsious pages, visually very interesting for a baby.

I can't wait until he's old enough to sit still for having it read to him, but for now he's so excited that he can do it on his own with this book, he's too impatient to let me turn the pages.

Highly recommended.

spunky words and illustrations revel in blackness
this book is a must have

the illustrations are **absolutly beautiful**. they accentuate the happy playfulness of the book and are so well done that they can appeal to adults and children alike.

the book is a nice break from the usual children's book roles of african-american characters. here blackness is not defined by its relationships to other races, but just by its beauty.

it is simply a really fun book to read aloud to kids.

Great Bedtime Read!
My daughter (18 mos. old) loves this story! We read it every night before she goes to sleep, at her request. I often use the text to play with her hair as we read, which she also seems to enjoy enough that now all I have to do is recite the book from memory to get her to sit still long enough to put in pig tails. I really like that each of the illustrations has a different skin tone- it's an important detail that could have been easily overlooked by a less inspired artist.