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Book Cover for: Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship, Irene Latham

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

Irene Latham

Hardcover
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Two poets, one white and one black, explore race and childhood in this must-have collection tailored to provoke thought and conversation.

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.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Carolrhoda Books (R)
  • Publish Date: Jan 1st, 2018
  • Pages: 40
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 10.10in - 7.20in - 0.60in - 0.65lb
  • EAN: 9781512404425
  • Recommended age: 08-12
  • Categories: • Social Topics - Friendship• Poetry - General• Diversity & Multicultural

About the Author

Alko, Selina: - Selina Alko spends her days melding words and mixed-media art to convey stories of hope and inspiration--as well as an alternative viewpoint. Her books include The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage, Can I Touch Your Hair?, Daddy Christmas & Hanukkah Mama, I is for Immigrants, and Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport, which was a National Jewish Book Award Finalist and selected as a Best Children's Book of the Year by Bank Street College of Education and School Library Journal. Selina lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Latham, Irene: - Irene Latham is the author of more than a dozen current and forthcoming works of poetry, fiction, and picture books. Her work includes Charlotte Huck Honor Book and ALA Notable Children's Book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship (co-written with Charles Waters) and the Caldecott Honor Book The Cat Man of Aleppo(co-written by Karim Shamsi-Basha). In 2016 she won the ILA Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award. Visit her at www.irenelatham.com.
Waters, Charles: - Charles Waters is a children's poet, author, anthologist and actor based in Georgia. His book Mascot (co-written with Traci Sorell) has received an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor and a Jane Addams Children's Book Award Honor. His other books (co-written with Irene Latham) include: African Town (winner of the 2023 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction), Dictionary For A Better World: Poems, Quotes and Anecdotes from A--Z, Be A Bridge, and the Charlotte Huck Honor book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes and Friendship. You can visit him at: www.charleswaterspoetry.com

Praise for this book

"These poems explore diversity with refreshing honesty and complexity--and truly capture the personalities and voices of these two rising stars of poetry."--Janet Wong, author and co-creator of The Poetry Friday Anthology series

-- (6/9/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"In tantalizing free verse poems, Irene Latham and Charles Waters reimagine themselves as fifth-grade strangers, then classmates, and finally friends. Can I Touch Your Hair? is a compelling portrait of two youngsters dancing delicately through a racial minefield."--J. Patrick Lewis, former US Children's Poet Laureate

-- (6/7/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"[D]elicately demonstrate[s] the complexity of identity and the power of communication to build friendships."--starred, Publishers Weekly

-- (11/13/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"A fresh approach to exploring interracial communication. . . . A brave and touching portrayal worthy of sharing in classrooms across America."--starred, Kirkus Reviews

-- (9/21/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"[A]n unusually candid book for pre-YA kids about race and difference, allowing for the possibility of the mistakes (the word is right in the subtitle) but also a hopeful outcome as Irene and Charles find enrichment in their friendship."--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

-- (4/18/2018 12:00:00 AM)

"It took four people to bring us Can I Touch Your Hair? and countless others to bring it to our library and bookstore shelves. It takes only one person to buy it and show it to a kid. And it takes only one to use it as the conversation starter we've needed for so long."--A Fuse #8 Production

-- (2/21/2018 12:00:00 AM)

"Qualls and Alko's layering of print newspaper clippings over paint begs readers to take a closer look. . . . [A]n excellent read-aloud or a launch pad for collaborative classroom writing."--The Horn Book Magazine

-- (12/4/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"Young readers searching for means to have difficult, emotional, and engaged discussions about race will find an enlightening resource in Irene and Charles' explorations."--Booklist

-- (10/17/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"A fresh and heartwarming take on bridging the racial divide."--Carole Boston Weatherford, author of Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement

-- (6/9/2017 12:00:00 AM)