My Fade Is Fresh

by Shauntay Grant (Author) Kitt Thomas (Illustrator)

My Fade Is Fresh
Reading Level: K − 1st Grade

A little girl makes sure she walks out of the barbershop rocking the fabulous hair style she chooses.

Learn the importance of speaking up for what you want through this fun and empowering picture book.

When a little girl walks into her local barbershop, she knows she wants the flyest, freshest fade on the block! But there are so many beautiful hairstyles to choose from, and the clients and her mother suggest them all: parts, perms, frizzy fros, dye jobs, locs, and even cornrows!

But this little girl stays true to herself and makes sure she leaves the shop feeling on top with the look she picks!

Author Shauntay Grant's sweet, rhyming story encourages young girls to be self-confident and celebrates the many shapes and forms Black hair can take. Through their stunning illustrations, Kitt Thomas is able to bring life and movement to the versatile styles featured in this book.

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$17.99

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School Library Journal

Starred Review

PreS-Gr 1--In rhythmic text and hilarious art, Grant and Thomas put boots on the ground in a barber shop where absolutely everyone has an opinion. At ten o'clock in the morning, a Black mother and child walk into a shop called Chrissy's Barber for "The freshest fade up on the block!" It's two o'clock before they emerge from an odyssey of hairstyles, perhaps created by Chrissy herself, cheered on by the Greek chorus of other customers: "How 'bout a trim that tucks it in?/ A frizzy 'fro that's neat and round./ Or parted with a parting comb and cornrows braided to the ground." Spikes? Gel? Puffs? This goes on for pages, until the beleaguered child and barber have clearly had enough! Vivid use of color and expressive faces show the eagerness of the onlookers, the exasperation and woe of the key players (some of the spreads are explosive), and the joy when the child, in a yellow skirt and very fresh fade, shaved up the sides and squared across the top, heads out the door. The neighborhood shop-around-the corner mood is perfect; the triumph of getting just what you want is served up with precision. Children will love poring over the pictures, while adults will feel their blood pressure rising. Included is a gallery of hairstyles that range from locs and rows to waves and 'fros, on children with skin colors that are an array of light to deepest brown, including a child with vitiligo, a condition that also appears on a character inside the book. VERDICT A winner-takes-all glimpse of one of childhood's major milestones, taking agency over fashion choices, personality, and style.--Kimberly Olson Fakih

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

A Black child narrator in search of a new look for "my bushy, brownish, biggish hair" only wants one thing at the neighborhood barbershop: "THE FRESHEST FADE UP ON THE BLOCK!" But everyone at the bustling establishment has opinions about a fetching new hairstyle: one by one, they suggest an Afro, cornrows, "a tangly tousled top," and "waves.... Or high-top fades." In the end, the child gets their way, asking for more off the top until receiving a "clean-cut, classic curly crop. THE FRESHEST FADE UP ON THE BLOCK." In playful, rhyming lines that give voice to a community's fond, well-meaning chorus, Grant (My Hair Is Beautiful) pays tribute to the beautiful versatility of Black hair while emphasizing the importance of a kid staying true to themself. Giving special attention to texture and curl pattern, saturated art by Thomas (Stacey's Extraordinary Words) changes perspective across each spread, picturing brown-skinned barbershop employees and patrons of many shades wearing a variety of hairstyles. It's an affirming, communal take on a routine barbershop visit, starring a cool, collected child who knows their mind. Ages 3-7. Author's agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary. Illustrator's agent: Chad W. Beckerman, CAT Agency. (Nov.)

Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes



Shauntay Grant
Shauntay Grant is an acclaimed poet and author of several picture books, including Sandy Toes, One Day, When I Wrap My Hair, and My Fade Is Fresh, which earned a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Her picture book Africville won the 2019 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and was a finalist for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Awards, the 2019 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards, and the 2019 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award. Grant is an assistant professor of creative writing at Dalhousie University, a member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada, and a former poet laureate of Halifax. She lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and loves to go sledding with her family in winter.
Candice Bradley was born in the San Francisco Bay area. Her fondest childhood memories are of drawing and dancing to Disney classics. She dreamed of either becoming a ballerina at Juilliard or an animator at CalArts. Although circumstances would prevent her from pursuing either, she didn't stop there. To fund her own education, she decided to offer services as an illustrator, and thus began her journey as a picture book artist. Bradley's hope as an illustrator is to support the movement of writers redeeming the narrative for minorities and people of color. Her books include Sandy Toes: A Summer Adventure. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her family.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780593387085
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Penguin Workshop
Publication date
November 01, 2022
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039140 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
JUV011010 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - African-American
JUV014000 - Juvenile Fiction | Girls & Women
Library of Congress categories
-

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