This is a excellent depiction of the ingrained racial and societal pressures that many Dominicans, Dominican-American and other similar cultures face with regards to prejudices based on the texture of your hair or the color of your skin. Claribel Ortega does a lovely job bringing Marlene, and her struggle with self-love, beauty and appearance, to life along with the wonderful translator and illustrator. Similar to Marlene, many young adults and children are put in similar situations and have to endure to adhere to society's construct of beauty. It was a great graphic novel and it was great to see it for a Spanish-speaking audience as well. I absolutely loved it (both in English and in Spanish) and would highly recommend it.

Es muy interesante esta novela gráfica porque trata de una manera muy directa el trauma generacional y la que es ser discriminado.
No quería que se terminara por lo hermosa que es la historia. Altamente recomendado.

Me ha parecido una historia muy bonita, real y que deja el corazón calentito. Muy corta desde mi punto de vista, espero que tenga continuación.

TW: grief, bullying
This was a very nice read! An inspiring comic book by Claribel A. Ortega about self acceptance.
Marlene, a girl of Dominican origins, has always been said that her hair is "wrong" because curled and, every Sunday, her mum drags her to the hairdresser to "fix it". She will have to fight, with her best friend's and her aunt's help, to try and take care of it as it is and feel finally like herself.
This is a very simple story but intensely moving. I particularly liked the speech of Marlene's aunt, who explains why curled hair are viewed as wrong and in doing so tackles the concept of internalized racism. It could have been explained a bit more, maybe, but for a book destined to children and teens I found the speech very appropriate. Marlene's mum is also a very good character; she is just trying to protect her daughter and herself, but in doing so she hides a part of them.
Rose Bousamra's drawings are warm and nice and colourful.
Finally, a special mention goes to all the cute animals, especially the chicken pet - she's too cute!
Thanks a lot to Netgalley and First Second publisher for allowing me to read the Spanish version of this comic book.

This book single handedly healed my inner child. I cried so much in some parts because they hit a little too close to home. One of my new favorite graphic novels and a book I’ll pass down to every kid in a my family 😂.

Sorry, there will be no review here because the book is in Spanish and I don’t read Spanish. I tried to understand the story through the illustrations but to be honest I didn’t get much so I will refrain from putting any opinions here. I’ll give it 3 stars for the illustrations alone because they were beautifully made and I loved the color scheme. Thank you.

Thank you NetGalley and First Publish Books for a Spanish eARC.


I was lucky enough to read this novel in Spanish and it was such a great read! I loved the message of this novel. It’s an amazing story about self-acceptance and learning to love yourself. It challenges anti-Blackness as something that has been passed down through generations and we have to unlearn and decolonize that mindset. It challenges these issues in a way that young readers would comprehend. I feel so many will relate to this story. The illustrations are gorgeous and perfectly placed.

Content Warning: Anti-Blackness, Bullying

Thank you to NetGalley and First Second Books for giving me advanced reader access to this title in exchange for an honest review. This title publishes September 26, 2023.

Rizos, or Frizzy in English, follows Marlene as she learns to love and accept her naturally curly hair. Marlene is Dominican, and therefore has both Spanish and African roots, which plays into the story of her hair, a story that she grew up trying to stifle. Her mother takes Marlene and herself to the salon every Sunday where a hairdresser spends hours detangling, heating, and relaxing her hair.

After Marlene attends her cousin's Quinceañera and hears how much her family talks about appearances, she gets fed up and goes to school with her natural hair. The kids at school pick on her, which leads to a big confrontation. Afterward, Marlene spends the weekend with her Aunt Ruby, who embraces her natural hair, and she teaches Marlene how to properly care for her curly hair while also instilling in her how beautiful it is. "There is no such thing as good hair or bad hair." This weekend ends up deeply impacting Marlene, and leads to her embracing a part of herself that she always struggled to accept.

I thought this was a beautifully illustrated story as well as a deeply heartfelt one about family and friendship. It gave me the opportunity to practice my Spanish while also discussing acceptance within communities where anti-blackness has been championed and, in turn, damaging whole groups of people for way too long. I highly recommend! A wonderful middle grade graphic novel.