Controversial?

Happy To Be Nappy
Written by Chris Raschka
Picture Book Ages 5-9
Rating: 3/5

A little girl explains her hair type and all of the cool things she can do with it!

Opinion: I don't see this book as all that controversial. I think the most uproar about this book would probably be the title, and the use of the word "nappy" as being misconstrued as negative. To me this book takes that word and uses it in a more positive way: what it means to the little girl and how she is proud of her hair and her origins. "It can be kinky or not..." I think it's cute the way the book is written in small, short sentences and the pictures are very colorful. I think it can be helpful to any little girls, but especially African American girls who are finding themselves and possibly comparing themselves to other children.

Curriculum Connection: This could be used in a cultural unit, a unit on racism, a community builder on how maybe using terms like that is not respectful, or even a language arts unit, by talking about different slang and dialect and what it means to certain groups of people! I would definitely be careful using it in a classroom because of parents and that sort of thing, but if I worked in a school with many different ethnicities I think it could be very helpful if used in the correct way.