Nappy Hair

A joyful celebration of black hair and of African-American culture, Carolivia Herron’s Nappy Hair (Dragonfly) is written in the traditional “call and response” form of storytelling.

This book exploded into controversy soon after its publication in 1998, when a white teacher was accused of propagating negative stereotypes by using the book in her classroom.

 

Indeed, it is a book that must be read to the end, preferably aloud, in order to grasp its message: that the little girl in the story is treasured by her large, lively, extended family, right down to the last “nappy hair” on her head.