My Powerful Hair is a lovely story. Granted, I was looking for a more factual and less poetic story abut the meaning and importance of what the title meant, but it turned out just fine. All that information is given as a young child talks about how growing her hair out and why it is short to start with, is important to not just her, but her family and culture of her people. The culture of this child and her people unfold onto the pages that are boldly colored with a medium number of details. Steph Littlebird mixed realistic and fantastic imagery to tell Carole Lindstrom’s tale. The artwork is as poetic as the text itself.
The text is based off historical events of the authors own family. The story tells of how one culture sees the world and how they interact with it, and how the non-native culture took that connection of the past from them. The text can be a bit strong and forceful, but it is what the author needs to make their story connect with the reader.
Mid-to-late March 2023 will see this picture books publication. I had a chance to read it via Edelweiss, but I do want to see the final product as I think the size of the book will help determine some of the ages the book could be used for. The text is short and poetic, allowing it for a younger crowd, and readers who are a bit more advanced in their reading could do solo reading, but if it is too much of a “traditional picture book” it could turn off the older crowd (up to around eight) as it is a book that flows into multiple age groups. This is also due to the afterwards that expands on the background of the story.
