My Powerful Hair

by Carole Lindstrom, Steph Littlebird (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Carole Lindstrom, author of the Caldecott Medal-winning We Are Water Protectors, gloriously follows up her New York Times best seller with My Powerful Hair. Paired triumphantly with Steph Littlebird’s debut art, My Powerful Hair is an empowering and healing celebration of hair and its significance in Indigenous cultures. A beautiful, potent tome from start to finish and like We are Water Protectors a must-read.

From the award-winning and bestselling author of We Are Water Protectors comes an empowering picture book about family history, self-expression, and reclaiming your identity

Our ancestors say our hair is our memories,
our source of strength and power,
a celebration of our lives.

Mom never had long hair—she was told it was too wild. Grandma couldn’t have long hair—hers was taken from her. But one young girl can’t wait to grow her hair long: for herself, for her family, for her connection to her culture and the Earth, and to honor the strength and resilience of those who came before her.

From Carole Lindstrom, author of the New York Times bestseller and Caldecott Medal winner We Are Water Protectors, and debut illustrator Steph Littlebird comes an empowering and healing celebration of hair and its significance across Indigenous cultures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647005740
Publisher:	Abrams
Publication date:	03/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
File size:	76 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Carole Lindstrom is a New York Times–bestselling and award-winning author of literature for young people, including of the Caldecott Medal–winning We Are Water Protectors. She is Anishinaabe/Métis and an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. She is honored to write books that allow her to shine a light on her beautiful people and their strength and resilience. Her tribal homelands are in Belcourt, North Dakota, but she was born and raised in Nebraska and currently makes her home in Maryland. Steph Littlebird is an Indigenous artist, writer, curator, and a member of Oregon’s Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. Her work combines traditional aesthetics with contemporary materials and subject matter to forge connections between our collective past and imminent future. Littlebird was the 2020-2021 fellow of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Littlebird received national recognition as curator of This IS Kalapuyan Land (2020) an exhibition at the Five Oaks Museum in Portland, which was featured by ArtNews and PBS NewsHour. She currently lives in Las Vegas.

Editorial Reviews

***STARRED REVIEW***
“A thoughtful and enlightening addition to the picture book shelves and a worthy choice for units on Indigenous cultures.

Booklist

***STARRED REVIEW***
“The narrative’s powerful ending brings this story to a satisfying, hopeful conclusion. Debut illustrator Littlebird (a member of Oregon’s Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) captures the closeness of the family and the strength and determination of the protagonist in bright colors set against woodgrain-like backgrounds.”

The Horn Book Magazine

***STARRED REVIEW***
“The narrative’s powerful ending brings this story to a satisfying, hopeful conclusion. Debut illustrator Littlebird (a member of Oregon’s Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) captures the closeness of the family and the strength and determination of the protagonist in bright colors set against woodgrain-like backgrounds.”
—The Horn Book Magazine

***STARRED REVIEW***
“A thoughtful and enlightening addition to the picture book shelves and a worthy choice for units on Indigenous cultures.”—Booklist

***STARRED REVIEW***
"This is an emotionally searing story infused with important historical and cultural information on the significance of hair to Indigenous cultures."—School Library Journal

***STARRED REVIEW***

"A deeply moving and inspiring celebration of long hair and its significance in Indigenous cultures."—Kirkus

From the Publisher

★ 02/24/2023

K-Gr 4—"I can't wait for my hair to grow" is the powerful opening to this book, which lays groundwork for this compelling story highlighting not only the significance of hair to Indigenous peoples, but also memory, generational trauma, and the power of healing. Using three generations of hair as the medium, Lindstom's sparse, poetic language ("Our ancestors say: Our hair is our memories. Our source of strength") and Littlebird's bright palette capture both serenity and hope. The debut illustrator's watercolor, ink, and computer-generated art resembles woodcuts—an effective medium for the etchings contained within the long, dark hair floating across double spreads. Deep blues, pinks, and purples, punctuated by hopeful yellow, highlight the joy of memory and culture, particularly on spreads that use circles to underscore connection between generations. That only one (muted) spread explicitly references the Indian boarding schools that robbed the narrator's grandmother of her hair highlights the power of healing, though back matter details the schools' cruelty and lasting legacy. VERDICT This is an emotionally searing story infused with important historical and cultural information on the significance of hair to Indigenous cultures. Highly recommended for all library collections.—Rebecca Kirshenbaum

School Library Journal

★ 2023-04-24
A Native girl reflects on hair, both her own and her family’s.

The young narrator’s Nokomis (Ojibwe for grandmother) and mother were not permitted to have long hair—her mother’s was deemed “too wild,” while Nokomis’ was shorn at a residential school. The phrase “Our ancestors say” repeats throughout as we learn that “stories and memories are woven” into the young narrator’s hair. Long Indigenous hair is a form of self-expression, honors ancestral knowledge, and is healing medicine, according to the ancestors. Littlebird’s (enrolled Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) bold art matches the power of We Are Water Protectorsauthor Lindstrom’s (Anishinabe/Métis, enrolled Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe) words. Crisp, striking illustrations reminiscent of woodcuts celebrate life and depict characters’ connections to Mother Earth as leaves swirl and splashes of vibrant colors dance across pages like confetti. Parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, and aunties are included, making for a loving portrayal of a tightknit extended Native family. The stages of the protagonist’s hair growth serve as a timeline of events: When Nimishoomis (grandfather) taught the child to fish, her hair reached her ears; when her brother was born, it was shoulder-length. When Nimishoomis dies, the young girl cuts her hair to send powerful energy into the spirit world with him. As the book ends, the child decides to regrow her hair, and so does her mother. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A deeply moving and inspiring celebration of long hair and its significance in Indigenous cultures. (information on the importance of hair to Native/Indigenous peoples, Ojibwe glossary, author’s note) (Picture book. 5-11)

Kirkus Reviews