CROWNING GLORY

Two acclaimed creators have teamed up for an unqualified and unapologetic ode to Black hair.

An opening double-page spread of colorful planets, aligned in a star-spangled night sky, is followed by a depiction of Black women wearing crowns and beaming. (The backmatter explains that in 2019, Black women all over the world “made history as the titleholders of five major beauty pageants.”) In rhyming verse, Weatherford pays tribute to the textures, styles, and intricate patterns of Black hair, as well as adornments, coverings, and products used to care for it. Metaphors and similes abound (“Like waterfalls, our hair cascades,” “each strand a story without end”). Accompanying Weatherford’s potent words, Holmes’ stunning collage illustrations, in a plethora of textures, colors, and patterns, accentuate characters’ beautiful brown skin. Many scenes highlight the important role that hair care plays in bringing Black women and girls together, including a depiction of a dark-skinned mother reading a story to her baby; both sport matching Afros, with a bright yellow sunflower adorning each head. An especially striking image depicts a rainy day, bathed in blues and purples, with three women wearing a hijab, a headwrap, and a gele and carrying yellow and orange patchwork umbrellas, alongside a woman wearing a patchwork wide-brimmed hat—a stirring tribute to Black women’s beauty and verve.

A breathtakingly gorgeous book that no reader should be without.