God Loves Hair

Gr 10 Up—Through 21 short stories, Shraya takes readers on an emotional journey with a boy who is discovering and developing a gender identity in a heteronormative environment. The tales recount the narrator's life growing up in a Hindu family in Canada, and how his religion, ethnicity, brown skin, hair, and family's expectations intersect. Each story is accompanied by mixed-media illustrations with comic-book appeal, that along with the work's Indian and American pop-culture references and its intersection of race and gender, bring a fresh and vibrant addition to YA LGBT literature. Whether it is through his hair "problems," relation to his family, or experiences in school, teens, as well as the older My So-Called Life generation, will find this book appealing and self-reflecting. The 2011 self-published edition garnered several accolades, including Lambda Literary Award finalist. Librarians should be on the lookout for this queer coming-of-age story that offers an endearing and honest voice, as well as a heartbreaking account of adolescence.—Sujei Lugo, Simmons College, MA