WHAT'S SILLY HAIR DAY WITH NO HAIR?

A bald girl faces a school festival that requires hair.

Bea was born with a full head of hair, but before she turned 4, it had all fallen out. Nobody knows whether her hair will grow back, and it’s not part of another medical condition, so Bea just needs to cope. Sometimes she’s teased or envies best friend Shaleah’s hair clips; sometimes she’s fine. But Silly Spirit Week is coming up at school, culminating on Friday with Silly Hair Day. Loyal Shaleah is present every step of the way, comforting Bea and trying to help solve the looming Silly Hair Day problem. Hats won’t do the trick; Bea usually wears them. The girls try and reject both wigs and home-crafted yarn hair that resembles “a nest of gummy worms.” There’s only a vague sense of help from adults. Bea’s mom provides transportation to the wig store—but only after Shaleah suggests it—and then she seems to disappear. Ms. Chambers—the principal, perhaps?—approves a definitional change to Silly Hair Day upon Bea’s request; a bit oddly, even though Bea seems to be an older-elementary–age student and therefore someone Ms. Chambers has known for a while, the woman seems never to have noticed the celebration’s exclusionary element herself. Carrossine’s matte texture, soft colors, and gentle edges cushion Bea’s (and readers’) anxiety about this social plight. Bea, her parents, and Ms. Chambers are White; Shaleah is Black.