DADS READ: “My Hair Is A Garden” by author/illustrator Cozbi A. Cabrera

JER: “My Hair Is A Garden” by author/illustrator Cozbi A. Cabrera starts with a specific problem - “Mack’s hair is always a mess” everyone, even Mack, seemed to accept it as a fact.  What I love about this book is that it expertly weaves in universal themes from one specific problem: 

• Relying on Community: “there was something special about Miss Tillie . . . You could say her house had a glory. . . . She knew I was at her house for a reason. . . . Miss Tillie called my mama, who said I could stay there a while.” 

• Growth takes time: “I thought about how that little tree had survived and all the water Miss Tillie gave it every day, even though it looked like a broken branch.  I wondered if I would have given up and thrown it away.” 

• Diversity is beautiful:  A Japanese maple isn’t prettier than succulents, “they’re both beautiful even though they’re so different.”; and 

• I especially love the last few pages: “My hair is a garden.  And like every garden, it must be cared for, every day.  The nutrients in the soil can be stimulated and enriched.  My body is the soil for my hair.  What I give to the soil comes back to me.  I love to eat right.  My words are like seeds that I plant.  What I think and speak draws a yield.  I weed out all opinions that have no place in my garden.”