Hair Love by Matthew A Cherry, Vashti Harrison

Rating: WORTHY!

I loved this book about a young girl and her wild hair, and I loved how she was helped by her father, not by the usual go-to mother in these stories, so this one had everything going for it, including great art by Harrison. The book comes from a film of the same name which won Best Animated Short Film in last February's Oscars. You can find the film on You Tube. The book omits certain aspects of it.

Depending on how she has her hair done, Zuri can transport herself into one adventure or another, but her hair is so willful that she can't always tame it, so her dad helps and they finally win through. The story was sweet and fun, and offered some mind-stimulating ideas, and I commend it fully as a worthy read.

Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o, Vashti Harrison

Rating: WARTY!

I'm a fan of Nyong'o's acting, but for me this story about racism - a darker black kid being less accepted/acceptable than a lighter black kid - while not an inauthentic story of how cruel life can be - went astray. While it does make the point that racism between certain people of color and people of another color is a fact of life (it's not just whites hating on blacks), and while the artwork is wonderful in the book, for me the focus was far too much on looks and not on personality or what a person can contribute.

I can never forget all the fuss that was made when the four major beauty titles were all held by women of color: Ms America, Ms Teen USA, Ms Universe, Ms USA, but no one said a word about the two biggest problems with taking satisfaction from this: it's all about skin-depth looks, and all of these women of color arguably looked little different from your typical white 'beauty queen' who'd got herself a decent tan.

The huge diversity of people of color - not just in their color, but in how they look as well - wasn't even remotely represented in this keyhole view selection of these cookie-cutter winners. This, for me, is where this book lost some of its footing, too. It could have gone deep with a message, but instead it seemed to tiptoe around it, staying at skin-depth as though Sulwe was the only dark person and everyone else was a bland generic "coffee" color. No. Just no.

We're obsessed by looks, especially in Nyongo's world of Hollywood, and I was disappointed we got none of that coming through here. The book seemed much too willing to dwell on outward façades, deal with black and white, forget shades of gray, and ignore what's inside a person. But arguably worse than this, is the fact that family seemed to play little role here. Sulwe is the darkest member of her family, her sister being much lighter, but never do we see her sister coming to her aid or trying to ensure Sulwe is included. It's like the two were strangers and it sent a bad message.

Even that might have played a part in the story had Sulwe been shown as developing inner strength, but this opportunity wasn't made use of. Sulwe made no effort - everything was done for her or two her. She was as passive as you can get. Nyong'o didn't even scratch the surface - but that's not something you want to do when it's all about looks now is it? I can't commend this book at all.