Frizzy is a graphic novel about texturism and how one girl, Marlene, is struggling with it from her family and classmates. It impacts her self-esteem and physically hurts when her mom makes her go to the salon to get her hair braided and straightened, and when her classmates attack her hair. Frizzy is heartbreaking, revolutionary, educational, and powerful.

I recommend this to anyone wanting to unlearn their own biases against hair texture, and anyone who considers themselves to be anti-racist.
Content warning: bullying, grief, loss of a parent (it happened in the past) racism via texturism (comments about good hair, family favoritism and bullying due to hair texture, painful salon trips, and Marlene's hair was a target of verbal and physical bullying at school)

Please read own-voices reviews on this as they are far more important and informative about the importance of this representation. I haven't read every review from Goodreads, but these are the ones that got me interested in reading Frizzy.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4781272996
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4758883530
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4618574416
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4794760388
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4757930891
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4764337695
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4807063073
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4765754747

As the only child in the family with curly hair and no one who could teach me how to manage it, I needed this book as a kid. I was tearing up at the end. I felt like the scenes at the salon were snapshots of my own experiences. Oh, how I understood the teasing at school, being compared to the cousins, and going to quinces.

I appreciate that the author challenges the notion that children have to respect adults, when adults themselves don’t follow their own advice. I love that there was also redemption for flawed adults. Although, this may not be often true in reality, it allows adults reading this for/with children to look inwardly and serves as a gentle reminder that we have our own work to do, too. And for those children not reading this along with adults, it gives them voice to respectfully challenge the inconsistencies in their adults’ arguments.

Another reviewer mentioned that it was important for the MC to tell her mom the truth rather than avoid her, because we don’t want youth reading this to learn that avoidance is ok. However, I think that taking this part out or revising it, is avoiding an opportunity to discuss this part with kids. It’s a very realistic part of the plot, especially given all the reasons why the MC does this.

I didn’t have a Tía Ruby or bestie Camilla, and for all the kids who also don’t have this type of support, Frizzy is this for them. I strongly recommend this book for educators, parents, and anyone who doesn’t have curly hair, as a good conversation starter about describing and touching other people’s hair, as well as discussing anti-Blackness. I can’t wait to get a copy to share with my family.

THANK YOU to First Second & NetGalley for sending me this ARC. All reviews are honest reflections of my own opinions, always.

Every Sunday a knot forms in Marlene's stomach. It's Salon day.

At her Mother's insistence, every single week she sits in the beautician's chair listening to personal insults as her "bad hair" is transformed from a riot of curls into more socially accepted straight locks. That is, until Marlene has had enough.

Enough of being compared to to prettier girls. Enough of being told to act like a lady when all she wants is to be a kid. Enough of the bullying from family and peers, of being told beauty is on the inside when clearly that must be a lie.

In a small act of defiance, Marlene lets her natural hair take center stage, but not knowing how to care for it leads to disaster both at school, and worse when she must go home to face her Mother.



I really loved this story of Marlene, who's of Honduran descent. Bringing forward topics of ethnic erasure & pressures many feel necessary to fit in with a more widely accepted culture.
Frustrating, relatable in many ways, with giggle worthy moments & a dose of healthy communication.

This was a beautiful, quick read and one that young people and adults alike can enjoy!

The experience of anti-blackness is one that I have heard of however as a white person am mainly unfamiliar with, and this graphic novel explains it extremely well.

This book deals with many themes, including death of a parent, culture, expectations and inclusivity along with acceptance of ones self.

A fantastic read that I would for sure share with my younger sisters!

Thank you for the e-copy of this and opportunity to read and review this beautiful book!

I write this review at work as I think to myself, "it is humid outside... did I use enough hairspray to tame my flyaways?".

I loved this book. I wish that I had this as a middle-grader and learning how to handle my more than wave/ less than super curly hair after my mother died. This book featured components I felt in junior high as far as how to broach the topic of a dead parent with the living parent and how to "figure" out your hair with a distant relative. More than figuring out how to handle one's hair, this book showed how to navigate relationships with peers and adults.

I cannot forget to add, the the color theme and illustrations were fantastic.

If you are looking for a simple way to add a BIPOC author into your collection or rather expand the collection of others, this a great book!

***Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley in providing me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.***

I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this eBook.

Having a head full of unruly hair myself I could relate to Marlene a lot. It took me years to love my hair for what it was and I still struggle some days.

Claribel A. Ortega comes up with a wonderful and gripping story about hair power. The art was beautiful and it flowed seamlessly from one page to another, I will recommend this book to all the little curly-haired heads out there.

A young girl from the Dominican Republic is forced by her mother to have her hair straightened (at least) every Sunday on their trip to the salon. Marlene missed the freedom of her younger life, when nobody cared what her hair looked like, or how messy she got. But one day her mom said she was growing up, and needed straight, smooth hair. It took hours; sometimes all day! And she had to avoid sweating or moving too much, or getting dirty. Some days she felt mad at everyone.

And to make things worse, one cousin (the hairdresser), pulled and tugged at her hair and called it ugly, and another appears perfect and graceful with beautiful long hair--everyone asks why Marlene isn't more like Diana--the pretty but mean girl who's her own biggest fan.

How can Marlene feel good about herself when relatives criticize her looks and manners, and even her own mother seems focused on beauty all the time?

Marlene is experiencing backlashes from the old traumas of family members. It's very confusing, and adults are most often unaware, but everyone lives with a few aftereffects of parent's or caregiver's lives. (Even from friends and siblings.)

Aunt Ruby, a free-spirited sort, helps Marlene make some sense of her mom's actions, and surprising things happen when she and her mom learn to talk about what matters.

I enjoyed this book, and identified with some of Marlene's problems. Her mom felt that children should show respect a certain way, no matter how they were treated. I struggled with the same thing, and had to find my own way; I didn't have the blessing of an aunt Ruby. I think these are good issues to read about and discuss. Having a good plan is always better than a frustrated defense!

I recommend this book to kids (people) who understand the situations, no matter their age. If the situations don't happen to them, they will certainly happen around them.

4/5
Marlene's first step should have been to talk to her mom, no matter how afraid she was. I understand her fear, but I wouldn't want to perpetuate it with repeated examples of avoidance.

Thanks to First Second Books and NetGalley for the preview of this ebook; the review is voluntary.


#Frizzy
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#RoseBousamra #RoseBousamraIllus
#FirstSecondBooks
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#MiddleGradeSelfEsteemBooks

"Frizzy" is an important coming of age story about finding the courage to be yourself even when others are telling you that something about you is "wrong." It is also a story about facing our internalized stigmas and figuring out how to unlearn the things that we've been taught to accept when they are harmful. This is a heartfelt story with well developed, lovable characters. The art is gorgeous and the story is deep and warm. This is an essential middle grade purchase.

Middle Grade books brilliantly tell stories of fearless characters navigating difficult issues related to growing up and some even push forth into tackling the larger societal issues that children need to process and unpack way before trauma sets in.

🌸🌸🌸

I can’t wait to share the beautiful story of Marlene with the young ones in my life.

Marlene’s hair is frizzy and she loves it but family pressures make her question her beauty and belonging. She dreads the Sunday trips to the salon with Mami where “she feels like she’s getting in trouble” because of the pains in straightening her frizzy curls.

I read Hot Comb last week and Marlene’s story is similar but different and I appreciated the cultural nuance.

Marlene doesn’t hate her hair because there is representation in the images around her of women rocking their natural curls. She loves the bad-ass curls of her favorite superhero and her Tia Ruby’s.

I loved the inter-generational dialogue that occurred between Marlene and her family members that disrupted problematic notions of dignidad, anti-blackness and white beauty standards. It was inspirational to see a young person ask the questions from the heart and get the answers they knew were the answers all along. It was also powerful to see how Marlene’s daring to be her most true self allowed her mother to find her way back to herself.
🖌 The visuals are everything! @rosebousamra did their thing and made every moment come alive and took me back to Jem days!

Frizzy drops in October ‘22 and it’s a must to add to your collection.

Thank you @NetGalley and @01firstsecond for allowing me to read a digital copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

I read this book in one sitting, which rarely happens to me so that really says something about how much I loved this book! As a curly girl myself, also bullied for my frizzy and curly hair when I was younger, it was so relatable to read this. I knew exactly how Marlene felt!

This graphic novel is fast-paced, gripping, and so important. It’s always okay to be yourself and no one should bully you for that.

Last but not least, I absolutely loved the art! So beautiful!

This is a relatable and wonderful hair story. As someone who has taken their own hair journey I love seeing this reflected in books for teens. Highly recommend.

This was absolutely amazing! Such a cute, inspiring and important graphic novel. This is meant to be a middle grade novel but it is honestly both accessible and inspiring for everyone! I would have loved to read this when I was younger and maybe I wouldn't have been so clueless and destroyed my hair.

We follow Marlene's journey to love her unique identity through accepting her natural curly hair. The way the characters (both kids and adults) are explored is so good and so on point! It raises all the important points of view and feelings of everyone involved. So simple and beautifully executed.

The art style is absolutely STUNNING and I would love to purchase a copy of this and read it a million times over.

This is a great middle grade graphic novel.

Wonderful illustrations, with a charming, determined main character who learns to love her hair despite all the negative messaging she is bombarded with about it. She faces many obstacles including anti-blackness, unsupportive family members, and bullies at school.

Luckily, she has a small support system that shows her how things can be and is guided towards self acceptance and self love.

Highly recommend this to young readers, and look forward to seeing more from this author.

***Thank you to First Second Books for providing me with an e-ARC for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher First Second Books for providing me an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I like to break down my graphic novel reviews into character, plot, and art.

Character: The characters in this book felt real. Everyone made choices that were relatable and realistic. Marlene hates going to the salon, not just because it takes long and is boring, she doesn't feel like herself. However, she wants to make her mom happy and has an ingrained bias of what constitutes "good hair." Her mother is teaching her this bias, but has other reasons for this weekly ritual as well, that she keeps from Marlene. Marlene's classmates can be both mean and supportive and her friend is always trying to be helpful even when she doesn't give the best advice. The aunt is the hero of the story and though she plays into the cool aunt stereotype she is fun and memorable. I fell in love with these characters and was fully invested in Marlene finding herself in the midst of societal and familial pressure.

Plot: The story felt perfectly paced. We move between the 4 settings of the story seamlessly and the characters have enough time to grow without it seeming forced or overly simplified.

Art: The drawings done by Bousamra not only bring the story to life, but add to it. Though most of the panels have internal and external dialogue, some are just setting or facial expressions and these add even more depth. I also love how the world is intermixed with Marlene's drawings and her perceptions as well.

Definitely check out this book when it comes out.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝒈𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.


This is a fantastic graphic novel that depicts how toxic and problematic the stereotypical norms that are the result of oppression are, how they have been internalized in previous generations, and how they continue to exist today.

I wouldn't deny that I was frustrated and pitied Marlene for all she had gone through knowing there was nothing wrong with her and how she questioned her worth throughout the graphic novel, that kind of feeling is terrible and I hope no one ever has to feel like that.

Aside from the representations here, I also enjoyed the caring aunt and best friend of Marlene who keeps on cheering her up.  These people are a treasure, and I wish nothing but the best for them.

I loved the story, the art, and, of course, the characters and their growth. I'm also pleased with how Marlene's mother developed and learned to look back and accept herself for what and who she is.

Overall, this was an excellent graphic novel that not only addressed the problematic stereotype norms that society instilled in us, but also how we can break free from these, have courage, and learn to accept ourselves.

It's a very good book for teenage audiences, It is a very good book to show you need to embrace yourself, It's a very good book overall!

Frizzy is a darling new graphic novel. It will be a must-buy for my school library and I know it will be an immediate hit with my middle grade readers. And what’s not to love about this story about embracing and celebrating what makes you unique and especially you.

It’s hard to be your true self when the people around you only focus on what they would change. Marlene loves her curls but it’s her curls that means she has to spend every Sunday at the salon. It’s her curls that her family comment on, negatively comparing her to her perfect, straight-haired cousin. And she hates that it means she can’t dance, get wet or be unladylike. If growing up means having straight hair and sitting quietly, she’d rather not. But thanks to her Tia Ruby, Marlene learns to speak up about what she wants and feels comfortable with and learns to share with other what she loves about herself - including her curls.

Loving something about yourself when the world or those closest to you say it’s not loveable is really hard, and that’s exactly what Marlene faces. She handles it with all the authentic emotion of any teen girl and Frizzy is such an authentic and relatable story because of it. It also has such an important message. I love that Marlene loves her curls. She just has to get her mother to accept and love them as well. The story also touches on the anti-blackness that underlies Marlene’s family’s reaction to her hair.

Along with her family’s comments, Marlene also faces bullying at school. Luckily she has the support of a good friend, but she learn some tough lessons about standing up for herself.

With pastel colours perfectly offsetting the vibrant purples and pinks, the panels are beautifully illustrated and are as vibrant as Marlene and her story of strength. Can’t wait to share this beautiful graphic novel with my readers.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

*I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Little Miss Marlene is growing up and with growth of age come growth of self and with that growth of self is growth in knowing what you like and don't like and acceptance of self. Lot's of ands but oh well. Marlene has been blessed with beautiful thick curly hair. She's also been blessed with a mom who loves her but has allowed las malas lenguas to infiltrate her mind. Marlene grapples with wanting to ditch the Dominican salon and make her curly hair tame enough where her mother will be cool with the ditching part.

This book was perfection. Painfully so. I didn't cringe at the thought of going to the Dominican salon but all that Marlene experienced at the salon, I did too. The long hours at the salon, the hairdressers complaining about how much hair you have, constantly saying that you should cut it... ugh... Not cool. When mom told Marlene not to even think of moisture because the thought alone would ruin the blowout... I felt it in my soul and memories brought me back to that place where you literally feel your hair getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Ain't nothing in the world that can fix it when it gets to that point. NADA.

Tía Ruby shows Marlene how to love on her hair and with that comes revelations that folks don't like curly hair because they are anti-black. I will say that there is that and a lot of it but sometimes it's not that cut and clear.

In my very pro-black family, hair has always been a thing. Absolutely everyone in the family has a different curl pattern/texture and most everyone doesn't have the patience to find out what works. Their answer to everything is to cut it and maintain it short. THAT is another topic better left for another day. To have curly/natural hair and maintain it curly/natural is a labor of love and patience. Wash day is an all day event and sometimes bleeds into day two because life. Products that worked for the last month no longer work and you have to have products on back up just in case they work now. There is SO MUCH. It is not easy and yet it has to be done because it is what it is. Acceptance comes. It takes forever for some but it does come. Some of us are just on to it a lot sooner than most.

Curly hair is absolutely beautiful. Curly hair is absolutely professional and neat. Even in it's maximum frizz, photographers have been able to capture it's beauty and make it the cover of these fashion magazines. I will absolutely purchase this graphic novel when it comes out and gift a few copies to all my curlies because they've all been on this journey and it's a good reminder to encourage others to accept themselves as the perfection they are sooner rather than later.

I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did! Although EXPLICITLY mentioned just briefly, I appreciate that Ortega highlights the colorism, and indeed, anti-Black racism within Latine/Latinx communities. Whether or not they're of Dominican heritage, many BIPOC readers might be also be more than familiar with the white-coded beauty standards still so prevalent among us. Thank goodness for friends like Camila and supportive grown-ups like Tía Ruby, who not only love Marlene for who she is, but encourages her to be proud!

A really sweet story that I wish I had years ago. It was amazing to see a positive story dealing with the insecurities of having "frizzy" hair and learning to embrace yourself.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.