The Boy with the Big Blue Hair

PreS-K—The boy with the big blue hair is perfectly happy when he is home. He giggles when his kitty snuggles in his thick, lush locks. But when he goes to school, he is teased cruelly because he looks different. The boy decides he wants to be like everyone else and he tries hiding his hair under a hat, getting a haircut, and drenching his blue locks in lots of hair goop. Everything he does just makes it bigger and bluer than ever. Things take a turn for the better when his thrilled classmates discover that his kitty has hitched a ride to school in his enormous hair. The digitally composed pictures are attractively designed with cartoon-style characters, though the simplicity of the illustrations do not always allow for enough emotion to be revealed in the faces of the children. The low quality of the design and construction detracts from the overall look: the paper is flimsy with printing streaks running through the images. The story starts out strong enough, but no explanation is given for why the protagonist decides to suddenly accept his unusual hair. The about-face from disliking his uniqueness to accepting himself is abrupt and unsatisfying.—Diane McCabe, John Muir Elementary, Santa Monica, CA