books with pictures of black girls with natural hair

[Elfknitter.#]

Not picture books, but beautiful all the same and maybe at your local library:

 

Brown Angels: An Album of Pictures and Verse

Angel to Angel: A Mother's Gift of Love

[ElizabethB]

There are an impressive number of books in this genre! Who knew, the things I learn here!!

[Farrar]

No one necessarily wants kinky hair but the comment about wanting something different than you have is pretty spot on.

 

:iagree: Yep. As a child, I wanted, not just curly, wavy hair, but tightly curly hair that would be big and pouffy and wild. I had a series of really tragic perms in middle school as a result. But my step-sister has the kinky-curliest hair I've ever seen on a white girl. Of course, she wanted hers straight and had it straightened briefly in middle school. Grass is greener and all that.

 

But I know these are BIG issues in the African-American community - issues I don't know much about. And obviously there are a lot more long, straight-haired girls in literature, movies, magazines, and so forth.

[acurtis75]

Yup. To a word. Everybody, and I do mean everybody, and their mother love my dd's hair. It's shiny and soft and forms gorgeous spiral curls. On the (extremely, excruciatingly) rare occasions we can cajole her into wearing it loose, everybody and their mother fall all over her about how gorgeous her hair is.

 

She spends hours torturing it into straightness and wearing it just like everyone else at school and then tells me that she wants to dye a streak of it pink so she'll be "distinctive." :001_huh: I tell her she already has the most distinctive hair in school, and she works so hard to hide it.

 

Anyway, there is a series of books about Julian and Huey that begins with The Stories Julian Tells. They have a friend named Gloria (who has her own books in the series), and she wears her hair natural. There are older versions of the books and updated versions (in terms of the cover illustrations). We read the older versions.

 

Tara

 

At this point dd's desires for comfort and free time outweigh her desire for straight hair. She asks me to keep "that horrible hot thing" (my flat iron) as far away from her as possible. She would like straight blond hair if we could wave a magic wand but not if it requires work. I suspect if she had straight blond hair that had to be styled daily she would hate it...she is not one to spend much time in front of the mirror. I'm sure that will change when she is a teenager.

[MeganW]

 

Oh, and I fussed at the last lady who said it and I will fuss from now on.

 

If you lose your nerve, you can always go with shocked and offended "WOW! What a rude/horrible thing to say!" The key there is to really sell it, like you have never heard anyone say anything like that before, and are horribly offended! (That's my standard response to "I'd kill myself if I had triplets" - yep, get it ALL THE TIME. Who says that in front of kids who are clearly old enough to understand??? Lots of people, that's who!) If you act like you are so shocked that they would say that, it usually makes them realize and think about what they just said, and they apologize. Doesn't undo your kids hearing it, but hopefully makes them think twice before saying to the next kids they see.

[TheAutumnOak]

I just saw this thread...Great book selections!...

I have boys and no one has ever said anything about their hair...I prefer to wear my own hair kind of short and natural (I am black, so my hair is curly/kinky like you see it in my avatar)...I have a 'fro, so people do often ask me, "Do you ever straighten your hair" :tongue_smilie:...I have straightened it in the past when I didn't know what to do with it, but once I found out how to deal with it, I love my hair the way it is...Will I ever straighten it again?...Who knows, but I haven't straightened it in years and have no desire to do so at this time :001_smile:

[lewelma]

Until my ds was about 5, he had bright white hair. Every week for 5 years, Asian visitors to our city would stop us when we were out and ask to take his photo. They often wanted to hold him or have him leave my side and stand next to them for a photo (which we refused.) They would giggle and point and (of course) speak in a foreign language to their friends. It was confusing for my ds. He felt odd and exposed and truly started to hate his hair. We had to work hard for years to help him accept himself for who he was.

 

I tell this story just to let you know that you are not alone.:grouphug:

 

Ruth in NZ

[kubiac]

Oh, and for when they're old, I recall that The Autobiography of Malcolm X has some great passages about his red hair and a process called "conking." Maybe I was just intrigued as a function of cultural voyeurism or something like that, but those anecdotes and the accompanying commentary always struck me as foundational to Malcolm's experience as an African-American, and his hair almost represents his journey!

[Celia]

Do a google search for Jump at the Sun books. My Ethiopian dd loves them. There's Beauty and the Beast, Goldilocks, and others, all with black children playing the lead role. They're precious :)

[DawnL]

Looking for upbeat, positive books featuring black girls with afros, cornrows, locks or twists. The books do not necessarily have to be about hair or race. My 7 year old told me girls in books always have straight hair. Her friends are getting their hair straightened, and some even get fake hair added on. Strangers and acquaintences often remark, "Too bad the girl got the bad hair," since her brothers have straighter hair. :mad:

 

 

Oh, that burns me up! Why would they say that?

 

I can't think of any books at the moment, but I will think on it. My kids all joined us through adoption and are all children of color while dh and I are white. My dd went through the same thing about preschool age, when all the other kids were little white kids with straight hair. I talked it up a great deal about how beautiful her hair is and she eventually came to see how wonderful her hair is in it's natural state. If anyone suggests straightening it now she is deeply offended.

 

My other 2 are boys. My oldest boy has never cared. He's just mad dad won't shave a mohawk into his hair :001_huh: My youngest, however, insists he needs straight hair, like Robin of Batman and Robin. ;) I keep pointing out people with wonderfully curly hair like his, such as his Uncle Kevin. It's hard at the moment but I know it will stick eventually.

 

Now if I could get him to stop caring so much about how cool his clothes are.......

[NapLover]

Sukey and the Mermaid

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/068980718X/ref=rdr_ext_sb_ti_hist_1#_

 

The Girl Who Spun Gold (the characters in this story wear head coverings though.)

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0590473786/ref=cm_cr_asin_lnk

 

Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel

http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Cane-A-Caribbean-Rapunzel/dp/B003E7ESB8/ref=pd_sim_b_6

[Matryoshka]

The above post just made me think of Her Stories and The People Who Could Fly, which are collections of African-American folktales.

[...................]

No book ideas, but some commiseration.

 

My dd is white, but she has extraordinarily thick tightly curled hair. (it's from her Jewish great great grandfather, to my dh, to her)

 

But WHY WHY do people say, "you'll wish it was straight when you get older but it is beautiful."

 

??? Why? My dd never even considered it being different until ladies started saying this to her.

 

:glare: it's so negative and rude!

 

FWIW there's a girl in my Cubbies class whose mother keeps it natural - its sort of like in little neat smooth poofie pony tails. It's really beautiful.

[Caribbean Queen]

I don't want to hijack your thread but I don't know how to deal with this when family members say this. (In general.)

I don't either. The lady I fussed at response was, "I was just saying she has bad hair."

 

If you lose your nerve, you can always go with shocked and offended "WOW! What a rude/horrible thing to say!"

 

People are so clueless they may not "get it." See above.

 

Caribbean Queen

 

Don't you think there is also a lot of cultural pressure for kids hair to look a certain way from within the AA community?

Yes. A week can't go by without someone commenting on how good and pretty my boy's straighter hair is. Half the time they throw in how bad my daughter's hair is.

 

Yup. To a word. Everybody, and I do mean everybody, and their mother love my dd's hair. It's shiny and soft and forms gorgeous spiral curls. On the (extremely, excruciatingly) rare occasions we can cajole her into wearing it loose, everybody and their mother fall all over her about how gorgeous her hair is.

 

She spends hours torturing it into straightness and wearing it just like everyone else at school

I appreciate the commiseration, honestly, I do. And there is some comfort in knowing that black girls aren't the only ones who want their hair changed. But I see my situation as different because my daughter has gotten the message loud and clear that her hair is bad.

 

There are an impressive number of books in this genre! Who knew, the things I learn here!!

:iagree::hurray:

 

I just saw this thread...Great book selections!...

 

I prefer to wear my own hair kind of short and natural (I am black, so my hair is curly/kinky like you see it in my avatar

Love your hair.

 

My dd went through the same thing about preschool age, when all the other kids were little white kids with straight hair. I talked it up a great deal about how beautiful her hair is and she eventually came to see how wonderful her hair is in it's natural state. If anyone suggests straightening it now she is deeply offended.

 

I need to do this.

[stripe]

I need to do this.

Yep. My daugter went through a phase of not liking her skin color. People talk about her hair all the time -- even if it's nice, who wants to be talked about? Even family members do this. She's just not that interested in talking hair all the time. It stinks. I had two ladies from the same country (which I won't name!) separately tell me I should shave her hair as a baby so it would be thick, straight, and dark like theirs. Um, neither my husband nor I are from this country, nor is our hair like theirs, so why would that change her hair? It was so offensive to be told to do it so that she would have nice hair. Theymade other insulting comments too. All in a very smiling, happy "I'm just giving advice" way, and I'm sure they never thought I'd mind.

[Bayt ul-Hikmah]

I had two ladies from the same country (which I won't name!) separately tell me I should shave her hair as a baby so it would be thick, straight, and dark like theirs.

 

Ha! I think I could guess where those comments came from (I have heard this many times myself). I have boys though, so it's less of an issue. When they were small they had big afros, but now that they're older their dad likes to keep it very short.

[*lifeoftheparty*]

This lovely woman, Thomasina, or TJ, as every one calls her, was in the 1st co-op we ever joined with all 7 of her kids, that she homeschooled. She is such a nice and caring (Godly) woman who is raising some great kids!

 

I still see her at church for AWANA... she's a great person and really trying to shake things up and live out her dreams. She has started writing children's books, which is something she has always wanted to do :)

 

Enjoy!!

 

http://booksbythomasina.com/

[rockermom]

Mama Jenn has a "Brown Like Me" book reviews section that I use as a reference sometimes!

 

I was going to suggest this as a place to look.

[Haiku]

I appreciate the commiseration, honestly, I do. And there is some comfort in knowing that black girls aren't the only ones who want their hair changed. But I see my situation as different because my daughter has gotten the message loud and clear that her hair is bad.

 

My daughter is black. And even though people like her hair, she still knows that black hair is not the cultural ideal. She still wants white hair.

 

Tara

[Entropymama]

No suggestions, but if it makes you feel better my dd6 with very fine, blonde hair has been wishing for braids and cornrows since she was 3! The grass is always greener. :)

[Haiku]

My daughter is black. And even though people like her hair, she still knows that black hair is not the cultural ideal. She still wants white hair.

 

I wanted to expand further on this. Even though my dd's hair is lovely loose and people comment on it, they still make negative comments, even if they aren't intending to. She hears things like, "I bet your hair is really hard to take care of!" and, "I bet it takes you hours and hours to fix your hair like that!" and, "How much oil did you have to put on your hair to make it so shiny?" She is well aware of the fact that people consider black hair a pita to deal with and that people feel it's something to be managed, dealt with, tamed, and tolerated (barely), not appreciated and enjoyed.

 

And her friends will tell her she has "good hair," which seems like a positive thing, but to her it's not because, to her, it's just another way of pointing out how she is different (adopted at an older age, black but not African American, etc.). And they tell her that her brother has "bad hair," which I think is ridiculous because, even though his hair can be challenging to comb (it's about seven inches long), as I mentioned earlier, it's awesome hair.

 

So even though she has "good hair" that people like, she still deals with the negative stereotyping of black hair. She wants to straighten her hair for two reasons: 1) to look like all the other girls and 2) she says it would be so much easier to take care of. I try to explain to her that straightened hair requires its own set of care and that as long as she cares for her natural hair consistently (which she doesn't always do), it's not hard to care for. But what do I know? I'm just Mom. ;)

 

Tara