Boonoonoonous Hair by Olive Senior

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Boonoonoonous Hair was written by Olive Senior. She was born in Trelawny, Jamaica in December 23, 1941 The book genres she writes are poetry, fiction, nonfiction. She was educated in Jamaica and Canada. She is a graduate of Montego Bay High School and Carleton University, Ottawa. She is one of Canada's most internationally recognized and acclaimed writers having left Jamaica in 1989, spending some times in Europe and since 1993 she is living in Toronto. [1]

Summary

The story tell about a young African American girl named Jamilla who has problem with her hair. One day, it's time to plait Jamilla’s hair, but her comb has mysteriously disappeared. She tries to convince her mom the toy elephant has it. But in reality Jamilla’s hiding it because combing her hair out hurts too much. “It’s a pain,” she cries. Even when brushed, it still refuses to flow or swish. She’s had enough.

Jamilla questions why she can’t have good hair like the girls in her class, “They have hair that’s long and soft and pretty. It glows as it flows without plaits without pins or long or short or it can swish as they wish.” However, with some encouragement from her mom, Jamilla begins to see the advantages to having hair “that can say something different every day of the week, every month of the year.” To prove it, Mom fashions seven new hairstyles. One day, Jamilla has puffs, the next day braids, the day after that a twist, and so on. [2]

Pros

Emma as a verified reader rated this book five stars, because it was a delightful book for young girls of African descent (and perhaps boys, too) and for other children, the implicit message was self-expression and self-esteem. Bright, bold illustrations. A beautiful and empowering book for all ages, with lots of humour.

Other reader had different point of view to Emma, a reviewer named Ivan Rainey, he mentioned that the illustrator used color pencil and paint in their drawings. There seems to be an african art style to the drawings. Now, since he was not very fluent in the African arts he could not exactly explain what this was but when you look at African American drawing the people have a certain style they are drawn in and there is of course many vibrant colorss. He enjoyed the book, but since he had read some very stylish and powerful African American stories in a row this one caught the short end of the stick. But, of course it was still a lovely read and would be enjoyed by many young audiences. [3] 

References