My Beautiful Curly Hair by Kiana Holder and Arya Holder - Book Tour - Book Review - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

My Beautiful Curly Hair

by Kiana Holder and Arya Holder

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GENRE:  Children's

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BLURB:

This is a story about a little girl who struggles with keeping her hair neat all the time, but grows to love and accept her wild and messy hair.

Kiana and Arya think having messy hair is more fun. Keeping your hair neat all the time is a lot of work.

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EXCERPT ONE:

When I wake up in the morning, my hair looks Kind of crazy.

Sometimes when I brush it, my hair gets really poofy. I think it looks a little silly.

Everyone in my family tells me I look beautiful no matter what my hair looks like. I know they are right… but… my hair makes me super mad sometimes!

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MY BOOK REVIEW:

Wow!!  I absolutely LOVED this book and more than ever wish this book had been available when I was a kid!!!

As soon as I saw this book on the book tour page, I knew I had to read this book, and it did not disappoint!!!

I was thrilled to find this book, as it was easy to relate to, and even at times felt like it was written about me and my crazy, curly hair struggles.

This book is such an incredible, insightful, fun, sweet, adorable, charming children’s read!!

This book shines a bright light on inclusiveness, diversity, acceptance, and understanding cultural norms!!  People of color are usually the ones that often end up with wild, crazy, curly hair and it can be a complicated and complex situation for others to understand the real-life struggle and stresses of maintaining such a challenging hairdo.  My friends often didn’t understand why I always wore my hair up in a ponytail or a bun or braids.  They didn’t understand why my hair often still looked unruly, and some would even comment how gross and frizzy my hair looked or even tease that I needed to learn how to brush my hair.

Growing up I ALWAYS hated my hair!!!  My curls would constantly get in my face and bother me!!!  Every morning I would wake up with the frizziest, wild curls that would have given Einstein a run for his money on craziest hairdo award.  My mom would often put my hair into two braids before bed, to help reduce some of the frizz.  And I can’t begin to tell you how many shampoos, conditioners, creams, ointments, oils, sprays, etc. that I’ve tried over the years to help calm my hair down.  More than often, they proved ineffective, if not leading to worse problems, like stiff, sticky, gloopy, greasy hair, dandruff, and dry, brittle, damaged, split ends.

So, I pretty much ALWAYS wore my hair up in a ponytail or a bun or braids.  Especially, if I had P.E. that day or something active, because any type of sweaty activities would cause my hair to get super messy, even more frizzy, and just wildly out of control.  Plus, it’s not like I could just brush it, that would only make it worse and turn it into a total fro!!!  Anytime my hair had to be brushed, there was always a large amount of water involved.  Whether it was from the shower, a dunk under the facet, or a spray bottle, that was the only way to try to brush threw those curls, without cause more frizz and without worrying about getting the comb or brush tangled in my hair.

And that is no exaggeration – that actually happened!!!  When I was in fourth grade, it was picture day, and my best friend came over early that morning so we could get ready together.  She had some cool idea for my hair, so I let her brush and style it.  Well, she used her brush, which was one of those round barrel, porcupine hairbrushes, which she got completely tangled and stuck in my hair and we could not get it out!!  My mom had already left for work, but my stepdad was home.  He wouldn’t let me miss school and hide out at home, and we already running late, so his brilliant idea was to use scissors and cut the hairbrush out!!  Yeahhhhh!!!  It was awful!!!  There was a HUGE chunk of my hair missing and it was on the left front side, you couldn’t help but notice!!!  But I still had to go to school, so I wore a hat to try to hide it.  For the record, hats were not allowed in school, but my teacher felt bad for me, when I told her what happened, so she made an exception.  I was in tears for days until my mom could take me to a hairdresser to get it fixed, which wasn’t really a fix, more like a super short haircut solution.  Now, at the time, my hair was super long, past my butt, so I ended losing more than 14 inches!!!  It was a devastating change, but the only silver lining was that I learned about Locks for Love and was able to donate my hair to be made into a wig for someone battling cancer.  Which ended up becoming a yearly tradition, to grow out my hair and then donate, and I still do that to this day.

Unlike the main character in this book, my family doesn’t look like me, and not only couldn’t relate, but often didn’t understand the complications and complexity of having such curly hair.  My mom is Caucasian (Swedish) with long, straight, Dirty Blonde hair, blue eyes.  She can roll out of bed, run a brush or comb through her hair a couple times, and be good to go, and actually look put together.  I on the other hand, have to spend 10-15 minutes on my hair so I don’t look homeless lol.  It requires water, brushing, more water, brushing, 2-3 hair products, then I can put it into a ponytail or bun, and be good to go.  But then there will be at least two or so additional hair fixes throughout the day, where I need more water or more hair products to tame the afternoon frizzies and grease.  My mom’s hair, still not a strand out of place.

As an adult, I still constantly struggle with my hair.  It’s more of a love-hate relationship these days.  However, I’ve learned to let go more and not be as stressed out over it or as embarrassed by it.  I still usually wear my hair in a ponytail or a bun and I’m not going to lie, on bad hair days I might not leave the house without hiding my frizz under a baseball cap.  Especially if I plan to go out anywhere after the gym or P.T., because my hair still gets uber frizzy after a workout.  But now I don’t obsess over straightening it every day or before leaving the house.  And every now and then, I see those curls as beautiful, and will occasionally wear it down for special events.  But I’m also practical, so when I had to have my ankle surgeries I went to a salon the day before my procedure to have my hair straightened by a professional so that when I woke up in the hospital and for the first week of recovery, my hair was not something I had to worry about.

Like I said, I really wish I had read this book as kid, as it felt good to hear another girl going though the same thing and being able to understand and relate to her.  Unfortunately, these types of resources weren’t available back then, and it led to insecurities, and many painful and embarrassing memories.  I’m truly thankful for Kiana and Arya writing such an important story!!!  I know this book will offer young readers the opportunity to understand, embrace and accept their unique differences.  And perhaps even allow others to realize frizz is not a hygiene problem or lazy person problem, it's part of our DNA.

I also absolutely LOVED the beautiful, fun, bright, vibrant, energetic illustrations!!  The colors are gorgeous and are sure to excite and stimulate young readers!!

As it should be since this is a children’s book, this book is “G” rated as there is no swearing, no violence, no adult situations, and no sexual content.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book and would absolutely recommend it!!  I think all children and young readers will like this book too, especially those that also have crazy, wild curls!!  So, add it to your TBR List and get to reading - you won't be disappointed!!

**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations**

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AUTHOR BIO:

Kiana and Arya are a mother-daughter duo who enjoy reading. The storyline for this book came from Arya's and Kiana's childhood experiences.

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CONNECT WITH KIANA & ARYA:

Website:

https://worldofkicreations.ca

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/mybeautifulcurlyhairbook

Goodreads Author Page – Kiana Holder:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21555549.Kiana_Holder

Goodreads Author Page – Arya Holder:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21555550.Arya_Holder

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58212738-my-beautiful-curly-hair

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/31yRxNI

Amazon US Hardcover:

https://amzn.to/3EsT0E1

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Beautiful-Curly-Hair-Kiana-Holder/dp/0228848423

Amazon CA Hardcover:

https://www.amazon.ca/Beautiful-Curly-Hair-Kiana-Holder/dp/0228855543

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-beautiful-curly-hair-kiana-holder/1139568832?ean=9780228848424

Barnes and Noble Hardcover:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-beautiful-curly-hair-kiana-holder/1139568832?ean=9780228855545

Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/My-Beautiful-Curly-Hair-Kiana-Holder-Arya-Holder/9780228848424

Book Depository Hardcover:

https://www.bookdepository.com/My-Beautiful-Curly-Hair-Kiana-Holder/9780228855545

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Kiana and Arya will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this blog.  This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those fabulous community outreach projects and awesome giveaways on here**

This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.