Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut

Written by: Derrick Barnes

Illustrated by: Gordon C. James

Blog by: Tania Dantas

In the picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, the unnamed main character describes the feeling of getting a new haircut.  He describes the pride, the feeling of being someone, of being able to take on the world after sitting in the barber's chair.  As the author describes in the author's note, it is a shared experience of "black and brown boys all over America". The author writes about how the barber shop is where the boys listen to the grown men talk and learn what it is to be an adult male; how to navigate in this world that doesn't always act like they matter.  It is the place where they are "treated like royalty" and that they really do matter.

I really enjoyed reading this book and feeling through the main character, what it is like to get that "fresh cut".  It helps me to understand a little more my boys of color when they come in with their new cuts.  They do walk in to class a little taller the next day.  I think this book could be read with any age group.  It is a great example of how representation matters.  I also think that all children can relate at some level to this story since I think it is a bit of a shared experience of everyone's to feel just a bit better about themselves after a new haircut.  But especially, the boys of color who have this same experience, will be thrilled to see their experience written about in this beautifully illustrated book.  

Crown - You Tube Video