This book began with an email between writing
partners – one a blonde girl, the other an African American boy, and progressed
with all that was, and all that is hoped will be.
Set in a current
day fifth grade classroom made up of a majority of white students and a
minority of others, the themes of the poems include hair, shoes, church, the
beach, sport, the playground, apology, forgiveness and other interesting and absorbing subjects.
Based on the authors’
real life experiences growing up, the poems are filled with metaphors and
analogies, beautifully spun with humour, realistic happenings (and some
imagined), truths, and conversations that will encourage other conversations
about race.
Deeply moving reflections of pain and love, good
and bad feelings, racist innuendo, and why black and white can’t seem to find
harmony except on a piano, vie with other emotions that clutch at the reader’s
heart.
This book of free verse contains compelling prose
that has sweet and sour flavours, but always ends up with a perfect mix of the
two.
I loved the way the issues were presented in
alternating normal then bold font, as if to call attention to both light and
dark skin and thought. The illustrations delicately highlight the friction in
the text that lies between words and meanings.
Can
I Touch Your Hair brings awareness to the reality that although we
are bathed in, and at times swamped with progress, there are some things that
take time to change, and meanwhile, all of us stand and wait to see the
outcome.
Title:
Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship
Author:
Irene Latham & Charles Waters
Illustrator:
Sean Qualls & Selina Alko
Publisher:
Walker Books, $29.99
Publication
Date: April 2018
Format:
Hardcover
ISBN:
9781512404425
For
ages: 8+
Type:
Poetry
