Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship

by Irene Latham, Sel Dem Drai, Sean Qualls (Illustrator), Selina Alko (Illustrator)

Overview

How can Irene and Charles work together on their fifth grade poetry project? They don't know each other . . . and they're not sure they want to.

Irene Latham, who is white, and Charles Waters, who is black, use this fictional setup to delve into different experiences of race in a relatable way, exploring such topics as hair, hobbies, and family dinners. Accompanied by artwork from acclaimed illustrators Sean Qualls and Selina Alko (of The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage), this remarkable collaboration invites readers of all ages to join the dialogue by putting their own words to their experiences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781512404425
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/01/2018
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 1.50(h) x 9.50(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Irene Latham is a Birmingham poet and novelist who writes heart-touching tales of unexpected adventure. She has also authored two award-winning poetry collections, What Came Before and The Color of Lost Rooms.

Charles Waters is a children's poet, actor, and author. His poems have appeared in various anthologies including: One Minute Till Bedtime and The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry. Charles performs his one-person show as well as conducts poetry performance and writing workshops for elementary and middle school audiences. He lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

★ 11/13/2017
Two classmates—serving as stand-ins for poets Latham and Waters—reluctantly pair up on a poetry-writing project and reflect on their identities, relationships, and the role race plays in their lives, in more than 30 candid, thought-provoking poems. The students aren’t initially close (“She hardly says anything. Plus, she’s white,” thinks talkative Charles after being assigned to work with Irene), but that soon changes. The children’s passions and preoccupations are revealed in poems that explore topics in parallel—new shoes, dinnertime, parental punishments, and police violence, among them—and the racial divisions of the children’s churches, communities, and school become clear, too. “I smile when Shonda/ comes over, but she doesn’t/ smile back,” writes Irene. “You’ve got/ the whole rest of the playground,/ she says. Can’t we/ at least have this corner?” Qualls and Alko (Why Am I Me?) play into the moody, reflective atmosphere in mixed-media collages whose teardrop/budding leaf motif underscores the way that conversation can lead to growth. The poems delicately demonstrate the complexity of identity and the power of communication to build friendships. Ages 8–12. Authors’ agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. Illustrators’ agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"This clever book of poetry is about finding an unlikely friend. Classmates Irene and Charles (also the names of this book's coauthors) are paired together for a poetry writing project. Irene is white and, according to Charles, 'hardly says anything.' Charles, whose 'mouth is like a race car / that never stops to refuel,' is black. Each spread contains poems from both of their perspectives, with Irene's poem on one side of the page and Charles's on the other. The children write about topics such as shoes, hair, school, and church. As they get to know each other better, the poems traverse even trickier areas, such as slavery and contemporary police violence against African Americans. Irene and Charles also bond over the difficulties of making friends and a love of reading; the poem 'Author Visit' is about their excitement upon meeting one of their favorite writers, Nikki Grimes. The illustrations are in acrylic paint, colored pencil, and collage, and range from ordinary classroom scenes to spare, dramatic images to double-page spreads that visually connect Irene's and Charles's experiences into one, showing their similarities. Qualls and Alko's layering of print newspaper clippings over paint begs readers to take a closer look. Appended authors' and illustrators' notes provide more information about the book's background and development. This volume would make an excellent read-aloud or a launch pad for collaborative classroom writing."—The Horn Book Magazine

From the Publisher

Here is a book that will open the door to classroom discussion on racial differences, preconceptions, and stereotypes. Teachers will also take note that it suggests an excellent classroom project that ties in with these important themes. The authors take their own adult correspondence about race, and reimagine themselves as fifth graders who are unwillingly partnered in a project in which they must exchange poems. Irene is white and Charles is black, and in these poems they share their everyday experiences. They start with the way in which they are parented and continue to dive more deeply into their differences. The conversation extends beyond race or gender, inevitably delving into topics such as bullying, expectations, and more. Their discussion includes the very serious topic of how an African American boy and a white girl perceive the deaths of black boys in the news, and how this impacts their perceptions of the police. Topics here are far-ranging. A white boy plunges his hand, uninvited, into Charles’ hair to feel its texture, and the account addresses body stereotypes and invasion of personal body and space. However, Charles offends when he uses an overheard nickname to describe a white classmate as, “Ghost.” A section about the appropriation of black language, or what passes as urban language, touches on how our speech patterns bind us to our groups but also set up unrealistic expectations as to intelligence and achievement. One set of poems about going to the beach (where white children try to turn themselves brown), brings up an age-old question about desirable pigmentation. Pastel illustrations are not only enchanting, but are emotionally accurate and evocative. This is a fine exploration of race, gender, and changing perceptions. Reviewer: Lois Rubin Gross; Ages 6 to 10.

Children's Literature - Lois Rubin Gross

01/01/2018
Gr 4–7—The conceit of a poetry project is this basis for this underdeveloped effort at unpacking racism in a school setting. The poems are presented from two perspectives: Irene's, a white girl, and Charles's, a black boy. ("Mrs. Vandenberg/holds up her hand./Write about anything!/It's not black and white//But it is./Charles is black,/and I'm white.") They take turns responding to everyday occurrences at home, at school, and in public. Charles's poems occasionally introduce important questions ("why do people who/want to look like me hate me so much?"), while Irene's are myopic and fail to challenge bias. In particular, a running thread involving Irene and a classmate, Shonda, is rife with unexamined stereotypes. Shonda is first introduced in "The Playground" as one of the freeze-dancing black girls who won't let Irene join in ("You've got/the whole rest of the playground,/she says. Can't we/at least have this corner?"). Later, when Irene learns that Shonda's family tree is "draped/in chains," she writes her a note apologizing for slavery. Disturbingly, their eventual friendship is compared to The Black Stallion: "I smile/the same way Alec does/when the stallion/nuzzles him/for the very first time." The writing is didactic, with stale imagery (white and black piano keys "singing together"). Qualls and Alko's artwork, done in acrylic paint, colored pencil, and collage, provides literal interpretations of the poems and lacks a certain spark, likely owing to Charles and Irene's almost permanently solemn facial expressions. VERDICT However earnest, this is a clumsy attempt at tackling interpersonal and systemic racism for middle grade readers.—Della Farrell, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

★ 2017-09-26
A fresh approach to exploring interracial communication.In an unusual, long-distance collaboration, poets Latham and Waters have crafted a collection of poems that explore the intersection between race and childhood friendships. Each poet reveals his or her individual perspective on shared experiences by imagining their childhood selves existing in the current day of complex racial realities. Their interactions, expressed through poetic verse, navigate the ambiguous and often challenging feelings that children encounter as they grapple with identity and race—a process forced on them when they are paired for a classroom poetry project. The story takes readers through school days, interludes with concerned parents, and polarizing peer interactions. In one scene, young Irene, who is white, feels ostracized when she isn't invited to play freeze dance with the black girls on the playground. At the beach, young Charles, who is black, is teased by white kids who wear dreadlocks and cornrows, appropriating the culture of black people, while bullying and spewing hate toward Charles. In between the uncomfortable moments are lighter, universal childhood scenarios, as when Charles asserts his choice to be vegan at a traditional soul-food dinner or when Irene describes the solace she finds in her love of horses. Interracial couple Qualls and Alko contribute graceful illustrations that give the feelings expressed visual form.A brave and touching portrayal worthy of sharing in classrooms across America. (Picture book/poetry. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews