Every Sunday, Marlene and her Mom go to the salon to get their hair straightened. It's a tradition that gives them "good hair," which is very important to Marlene's mom—but Marlene hates it. She loves her naturally curly hair and wants her mom to love it, too.

To start, this book is aesthetically beautiful. The art and colors are to die for! I greatly appreciate how this book is able to speak to larger concepts accessibly, including discussing impossible beauty standards, internalized anti-Blackness, grief, generational traumas, and bullying. Marlene and her mom have a strong and communicative relationship, which is excellent to see. Fantastic book. Madly in love with it. Cannot recommend more.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hair love is hard. We can't help what we hair we're born with, and it's easily one of the things we get to play around with the most without many repercussions: i.e. tattoos, piercings, implants, etc. Styling is great! Dying is great! Cutting and trimming is great!

Hating your hair isn't.

Marlene has a hard time loving her curly kinky poof. There's this stupid stigma around the natural hair of Black and Latine people being "unprofessional" or "sloppy," and it's difficult not to be affected by crap when your ancestors had it thrown at them for so long that it piled up more than ten feet high. Then you're born with a garden trowel and are told to have fun digging yourself out. Marlene and her family suffer from that internalized racism that black hair isn't beautiful. Her curls are huge, and her hair is bouncy and untamed. But her cousin's hair is sleek and light and straight.

What Marlene learns here is that all hair is beautiful, even what she's told by relatives is "bad hair." That it's okay to accept and wear her curls with pride.

I would have liked to see her cousin Diana get her comeuppance for being such a brat, but there's only so much you can squeeze into a standalone graphic novel. And, much to my chagrin, sometimes people DON'T get their comeuppance.

The illustration quality is crazy good, and I absolutely loved Tia Ruby and her little chicken. Kids who read this will get such a good boost to their confidence, and I'm 100% putting it on our purchase list for this fall.

Absolutely gorgeous from start to finish. This coming-of-age tale of a young woman stepping out from beneath the strictly enforced beauty rules of her family to discover a look all her own cleverly tackles anti-racist and feminist topics without ever preaching or oversimplifying. Even family members that are acting as villains in this story are clearly doing what they think is best for our main character, even if their views are outdated. The author did a lovely job of touching on the anti-Blackness behind their family's drive to constantly hammer and contort themselves (especially their hair) into a shape that better fits Euro-centric beauty standards. All this with vibrant characters that could easily keep a person's attention even if they don't quite get all of the big themes just yet.

And all these deep messages and discussions come wrapped in gorgeous art that's bright and eye catching, easily communicating all the different hair textures without distracting from the emotions and actions of the characters. Some of the most effective parts of the story are those where the artist was allowed to express character emotions without text. There's a great back-and-forth between artist, letterer, and story here. Each page is laid out a bit different, but they all flow well from one panel to the next. Never once was I confused by the orders of speech bubbles or strange sound effects.

Oh this was just so lovely. All about loving your natural self! Totally recommend to young readers and adults alike. A heartwarming story! Thank you so much for allowing me early access to this beautiful tale.

An unbelievably sweet graphic novel about a girl learning to love her natural curls and pushing back against her family's bias about "good hair." The artwork is lovely and the story is part heartbreaking, part heartwarming and all excellence.

This is am amazing graphic novel. The words and pictures came together to create a book perfect for middle school readers who are figuring out who they are and how they fit into the world. The book encourages reader to be themselves and show the beauty in natural hair. It also addresses the depression and issues around the character's loss of her father and a family who is baised against natural hair.

Loved this graphic novel. It is beautifully illustrated along with being a moving story about identity, family and acceptance. Highly recommended for anyone over 9 years old.

/ Denise

A very cute and positive story! I loved the art style and the supportive cast of women! As someone who has struggled with deeply ingrained beauty standards for women, and well as internalized racism, this sort of story feels honest and good for teaching about different perspectives.

A great middle grade graphic novel about Marlene, a young girl who wants to stop straightening her hair and embrace her natural curls but her mother won't let her. She's forced to spend Sundays in the salon and while she loves spending time with her mom, she does not love the salon or the hair straightening. Marlene's story shows how conventional and eurocentric beauty standards are not easy to unlearn for anybody. I loved Marlene's aunt who saves the day, and Marlene's hair, and I loved the details of how she takes care of her curly hair. We all need a Tia Ruby!

Marlene’s mom takes her to the salon every week to get her hair straightened. Marlene likes how happy her mom looks after she gets it done, but going to the salon is painful and Marlene does not like it.
I really enjoyed the positivity surrounding doing what you want/what makes you feel good when it comes to styling your hair. This will be a favorite in middle school classrooms!

This is Ortega's first graphic novel and it is amazing! I love the art and the text is easy to read. The story is about a young girl who hates going to the salon. She wants to wear her hair naturally but her mom insists on getting her hair straightened. This middle grade novel focuses on natural hair, family traditions, what beauty is, racism, and being yourself. It was a fun and emotional read.

Marlene has never felt like her true self. She spends every Sunday at the salon with her mother getting her hair done. At the salon, she goes through excruciating pain to get her hair professionally straightened. We later learn that her mother was bullied when she was younger for having curly hair and eventually taken to the salon too, as a ritual. She passes the generational trauma down to Marlene and tries to get Marlene to understand that's just what they have to do to fit in.

Marlene longs to wear her natural hair but feels as though her mother would not accept her "bad hair" as her mom calls it. After some trouble at school and with her family, Marlene clings to her Tia' and she teaches her how to take care of her hair. Marlene and her mother both go through a journey of self-acceptance to learn how to wear their hair natural together.

I thought the illustrations were great, I liked the color palette. Also the story is super relatable, not only does it talk about intergenerational trauma and bullying, but also learning how to be comfortable in your own skin. Bonus points for depicting realistically sized women.

This was such a cute and necessary book for young kids. I loved Marlene’s personality and her relationship with her Tia Ruby. It was really sweet watching her experience the lesson regarding her hair. I would highly recommend this to students.

Goddesses, I loved this!!!! I totally wish there were books like this when I was younger. As a mixed race person with super curly hair and a mom who didn't know what to do with it I can totally relate to Marlene. I never had someone who could teach me about my unruly curls. I spent many years hating my hair (some days still) - but books like this would have changed my outlook. I'm glad young people have them these days. It was so relatable to watch Marlene go through her stages and learn to love her curls. Hope this helps that saying of "good hair, bad hair".

Frizzy follows middle grader Marlene as she struggles with her hair. Tired of spending every Sunday at the hair salon with her mom, Marlene decides she wants to wear her hair natural. With help from her Tia Ruby and best friend Camila, Marlene finds the confidence and learns the techniques to wear her hair with pride. She'll even inspire her mom along the way!

All middle grade readers will love this relatable graphic novel that explores self-expression and societal expectations. BIPoC and biracial readers will especially relate to the complex conversations about what hair means and says in society.

This was a great graphic novel about loving who you are and your natural hair. Frizzy is a fun story about a girl trying to find her identity and how deeply tied that is to her hair and her Dominican roots. The book starts with her having to go to the salon to get her hair straighten and how much she hates that Sunday ritual. This book will appeal to all kids, but I think it will become extra important for kids who have frizzy nd curly natural hair.
Beyond the wonderful story line, the discussion of racism and hair discrimination was really important and well done for the intended audience. I loved her relationship with her aunt and the way she resolves her issues with her mom. The depiction of community and self care around wash day was wonderful!
Overall, this is definitely important to have in any collection and I think this will be good representation for kids with natural hair.

Loved this book! I especially liked that the creators kept the Spanish as is without translation. I great book about appearances, family, and acceptance. I much needed book with diversity that will be at the top of my recommended reads for others.

Frizzy was everything I expected it to be and more. It explores the difficult relationship that a young girl has with her natural hair and how she learns to love it and herself.

The exploration of culture and how it's often suppressed to appease the majority is handled so delicately and, paradoxically, so fiercely. Readers are eased into the subject before being made blatantly aware of the devastating effects of microaggressions, some as seemingly small as touching the hair of someone belonging to the BIPOC community.

I deeply appreciated this beautifully drawn graphic novel and its depictions of culture and of a young girl learning to embrace her identity.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Frizzy is a graphic novel about a girl who rebels against her mom about how she wants to wear her hair and learns a lot about herself in the process. Older elementary and younger middle schoolers are sure to become big fans of this title.