When you see a picture book cover that has two sassy looking girls on it, you know things will either be super silly or… no, you know it will be super silly. Yet, Wash Day has more to it than humor. We follow a young girl who tells us how hard it can be to have her hair washed. It is not until her sister shows her another way that things get better for our narrator. Tiffany Golden’s story is sweet, and educates people not familiar with the unique things a girl of color must go through to care for her hair. And to know what the illustrations are all about, the cover, well, covers it. Lhaiza Morena tells it as it is in sweet, colorful images. Things are simple, but not simplistic. They are nice, friendly and open.I have issues with taking care of my hair, but not like our heroine does. And though I empathize with the tangles and getting them yanked on, I was not aware of other things (or at least not before reading Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega, which is a middle grade graphic novel, and Wash Day is for the five and up crowd). However, I wonder why the mother of the story did not know them. It is just a small issue I have with the story. The other daughter knows the things that make hair care easier, so why was mom doing it the other way? Now, I am not saying one is better than the other, but just wondering why.
As many of my reads (and particularly picture books) of late, this was read via an online reader copy and due mid-October 2023.
