Book Review: Dont Touch My Hair!

My son's locks at 3 years old. 

Dont Touch My Hair by Sharee Miller caught my attention at the library one day after story time. Not only was the main character a beautiful brown babe, but it discussed an issue that is a conflicting one for me.  I understand the idea and historical significance behind not touching a black person's hair... but I also don't necessarily agree.  As a non black person, maybe I don't get to agree or disagree on this issue; however, as a parent, I feel its my right to take a position regarding my own children. So, I decided to give it a read.

The story begins with a little girl named Aria who is sharing her amazing self love for her hair. "Its soft and bouncy, and grows toward the sun like a flower." Then Aria sets out into her city for adventure. It turns out, everyone else loves and is curious about her hair too. She goes through her day filtering questions and comments about her hair. Then people want to touch it. This gets to be too much for little Aria. "They are so curious about my hair that they even want to touch it without even asking for permission."  People, dragons, and aliens are all guilty of this and she finally has enough. "This is My hair."  The book ends with her learning to set boundaries regarding what she is willing to experience with others regarding her hair.

Its a fun, light, first person narrative that invites the reader to join in the world of a little girl who makes it all the way to outer space and a deserted island from her home all in one day.

I liked this book for so many reasons:

1) It was all about self love and not letting that which makes you different affect your positive self view.
2) It serves to educate people who may unknowingly be offending or making another feel uncomfortable.
3) It teaches boundaries. Anything that helps my kids claim their own bodies and teach them boundaries gets gold stars in my book.

The book ends with some discussion prompts that you can use with your own readers to further the discussion. Its recommended from an audience preschool to second grade. My three year old thoroughly enjoyed it and asked to read it again and again.  There are also tons of Youtube videos of kids reading this book. Its a fun way to read to your kids if you're in a crunch.

Amazon Reviews: 

"Since reading this book with my 3 year old, she has had the confidence to tell 4 adults not to touch her hair! We love this book! It teaches them about consent. I’ve told her many times what this book says, but I think seeing a little girl with hair like her, dealing with the same issue, helped it sink in."

"This book has generated many important conversations in our classroom, grateful to the author for this."

"An excellent book for black girls and anyone of mixed heritage, my daughter absolutely loved it!"