i absolutely love this book. this is a family favorite, i have a 2 year old and a 7 year old with thick, long hair and they love it and i do too

This is a story that reverses the negative attitudes that the majority of the westernized(and NOW also indigenious)population has about naturally strong and tightly curled Afrikan hair!! I love this story and I wish this book could have been around when I was a young child growing up in the United States of America.

I bought this book for my niece. It is so hard to find books about young African-American girls. The main character in this book actually looks like my niece. The book shows people of different shades, which is important for my niece's self-confidence.

I didn't care for this book. While I can appreciate it's message I didn't feel comfortable reading it to my children and it doesn't represent my story as an african american.

I get what the author was trying to do with this book. However, given that she used an old fashioned, tongue and cheek, call and response type of language, it's better suited for adults rather than children IMHO. When I first read the book I knew that it was meant to be taken lightly. For instance, there is a part of the story in which the grandfather essentially questions why God would have given such a sweet child such 'nappy' hair. While an adult might chuckle over this, a child might actually cringe because they are still dealing with this question in their own minds ('Why me?').

All in all, this book was the first of several children's books attempting to affirm the positives in African hair. In this sense, it should be respected as such. However, first is not always best. Subsequent books have done increasingly better in providing needed self esteem in this area for our youth. If adults want to buy this, they should be prepared to keep it to themselves rather than force it upon their children. Young kids might not be ready to grasp it's implications.