Hair Love

Hair Love, a New York Times best seller written by Academy Award winner Matthew A. Cherry and illustrated by Vashti Harrison, is the first title for Grades K–2 in the Interactive Read-Aloud Diversity Collection, our series of carefully curated trade books selected to represent and support diverse classrooms.

Main character Zuri struggles to get her hair that kinks and coils into the “perfect” hairstyle. The downloadable lesson’s comprehension focus aligns with the story’s problem/solution text structure. As the teacher reads aloud sections of the text, the students are reminded, through teacher modeling and think-alouds, to pay close attention to both Zuri and her daddy’s actions as they work together to solve her problem with getting her hair “perfect.” The lesson includes both dictated sentences and a prompt-style writing opportunity that allows students to think deeper about the importance of loving who we are and problem-solving in a way that brings joy into our lives.

The lesson’s SEL connection is self-love as this beautiful story unfolds. Zuri’s daddy perfectly demonstrates the importance of celebrating uniqueness and the joy that follows when we express ourselves freely.