Crazy Hair by Neil Gaiman. Illustrated by Mark
McKean. 2009. 40 pages. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. 9780060579081.
Annotation: Bonnie can’t
believe how crazy a strange man’s hair is and offers to comb it. When she
starts to groom him, she is pulled into a fantastical world of hair.
Reaction: This book is
a perfect marriage of the ridiculous and the surreal, and opens the flood gates
for dialogic reading between children and adults. Illustrator
Dave McKean makes us believe that such impossible things could live within the
hair- and once Bonnie gets into the hair, the art gets even more abstract and
surreal. The narrative features a rhyming scheme, tempo, and unexpected plot
twist that would make Dr. Seuss proud.
Primary early literacy skill enhanced: Phonological
awareness. The use of crazy hair- and storytelling based
around the rhyming of the words “crazy hair” empowers children to read along,
and anticipate the words- and vocabulary- using the images as cues.
Recommended ages: Ages 4 and
up.
Format: Picture
Book; also available in audio edition on Amazon, Barnes
& Noble
Themes: Hair,
Fantasy situations, silly stories
Author website: www.neilgaiman.com
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