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MY FADE IS FRESH

Name: MY FADE IS FRESH
Author: Shauntay Grant
ISBN: 978-0-593-38708-5

by Shauntay Grant ; illustrated by Kitt Thomas ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2022

This fun, powerful, and empowering tale belongs on every shelf.

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A girl arrives at the barbershop with hair everywhere and leaves with the freshest fade.

The adventure starts when the narrator walks into the barbershop, where Black folks are working, styling, sitting, and talking. The child sits and asks for “THE FRESHEST FADE UP ON THE BLOCK!” Instead of getting right to it, the hairdresser suggests other options—a trim, an Afro, cornrows— and cuts bit by bit. As the girl’s hair slowly gets shorter, other patrons suggest different options, like spikes, twists, or locs. Time passes as the suggestions keep pouring in, and the hairdresser and the child’s mother become visibly distressed. Finally, it all comes to an end when the child’s hair is short enough for her to say, “Just line me up.” The rhyming text is great fun to read, with perfect rhythm and style, though at times it can be slightly difficult to tell who is talking. The call and response detailing myriad creative Black hairstyles is both a humorous romp and a glorious celebration of Black beauty. The gentle message of a girl choosing her own look despite others’ attachment to her long hair is neither lost nor overdone. Thomas’ illustrations attend to every detail and exude energy, community, and warmth as they cycle through interesting characters and the narrator’s many different looks en route to her chosen fade. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

This fun, powerful, and empowering tale belongs on every shelf. (Picture book. 3-8)

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-593-38708-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Penguin Workshop

Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WHEN I WRAP MY HAIR
by Shauntay Grant ; illustrated by Jenin Mohammed

- BOOK REVIEW
SNOWY MITTENS
by Shauntay Grant ; illustrated by Candice Bradley

- BOOK REVIEW
AFRICVILLE
by Shauntay Grant ; illustrated by Eva Campbell

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)