Wild, WIld Hair

Tisa Walk­er dreads Mon­day morn­ings. “School was not the problem/She liked going there./But Mon­day was the day/Mommy braid­ed Tisa’s hair.” She hides, but every week her moth­er finds her, combs, and care­ful­ly braids her long, thick hair … Grimes uses her beau­ti­ful poet­ic touch to nar­rate this sto­ry told in easy-to-read rhyming cou­plets. Ford’s appeal­ing water­col­or art­work, done large­ly in pas­tel shades, extends and adorns the sim­ple sto­ry. The artist depicts warm and lov­ing African-Amer­i­can fam­i­ly mem­bers, all of whom seem to devote Mon­day morn­ings to get­ting Tisa ready to face the world. In the end, the child is very pleased with her­self, but every read­er will guess that she’ll try to avoid the comb­ing and braid­ing next week. An enjoy­able read-aloud or read-alone.” (School Library Jour­nal)