'Frizzy' is a graphic novel written by Claribel A. Ortega and illustrated by Rose Bousamra. It tells the story of Marlene, a middle grade girl, who is struggling with some big questions tied to her, and society’s, feelings about her looks and more specifically, her hair.
What I love most about this middle grade graphic novel is that it models real and healthy conversations between friends, aunt/niece, and mother/ daughter. The main character asks some really tough questions after making observations like: 

I wonder if being beautiful was the only thing that mattered.
I don’t even want to see my family sometimes because I’m worried they’ll make fun of me….and I don’t think
that is the way I’m supposed to feel.
An example of a healthy response is her friend’s response to her questioning: “But it doesn’t matter what you look like- I just want you to be happy.” What a great model of female friendship!! We need more of this in books. As Marlene thinks about the contradictions adults are speaking in her life (it is what is on the inside that counts vs you need to look right and professional) she beings to question if being herself is enough. What I love is that she then looks to the positive role models in her life to figure out how to tackle these big questions- and EVERYONE, adults and kids, are better for it. I especially love her conversation with her aunt who explains in a very gentle and appropriate way that this is a problem that has been brought on by many generations.

I will absolutely be purchasing this graphic novel for my library. The bright, fun, colorful illustrations paired with a topic students can relate to will make this one fly off the shelves!

Such a cute graphic novel. This is a story I would recommend to any young kid dealing with body issues any any young curly haired kid

This book tore me to pieces and I loved it! Marlene is struggling with her identity. She does not fit in because she does not have "good hair."
Sadly, ever week she goes to the hair salon to straighten her hair. This weekly ritual is taking a toll on her.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review that is completely my own.*

'Frizzy' is a graphic novel written by Claribel A. Ortega and illustrated by Rose Bousamra. The story follows Marlene in her hair journey. She's a young girl whose natural hair is very curly, kinky, and to her mother "out of control" and must be tamed by going to the salon to get it straightened and styled.

The story follows Marlene in not only her hair journey, but her journey of loving herself just the way she is. Her mom has been taking her to the salon every Sunday since she was little, especially after the death of her father. But Marlene hates it; she hates going to the salon and having to sit there and have someone pull at her hair when she doesn't care what her hair looks like. To her, the only one that seems to care is her mom. She continues to do it for her mom until one day, she's had enough.

She and a friend of hers watch video tutorials of how to style and take care of curls that look similar to Marlene's, but in an attempt to manage this style herself, Marlene "wrecks" her hair by her mothers standards. Her mother puts her hair up in braids for the day at school and they'll get it fixed as soon as possible. Marlene is furious and just wants to be herself, she's proud of her curls and she doesn't understand why everyone else, especially her mother, makes a big deal about it. Marlene takes her braids out on the bus to school, but by the end of the day at school, bullies have stuck tape into her curls which results in a huge fight of Marlene pushing someone down that sends Marlene to the principal's office.

Marlene's mother is furious and she tries talking to her mother about how she wants to like her hair the way it is, but all her mother is focused on is how she pushed someone down at school for bullying her. I can understand Marlene's frustration, people are bullying her just for the way her hair looks and she's the one getting in trouble. Marlene's mother suggests she goes to her aunts house for the weekend to try to get a breath of fresh air and relax.

Her aunt Ruby has hair just like Marlene, and they get to talking and Ruby suggests that she teach Marlene how to style and take care of her hair so it can be natural but cleaned up and not 'frizzy' the way her mother sees it. The whole weekend is filled with tips and tricks of how to style it to her liking and her aunt validates her feelings that her mom is being too hard on her, and there are things Marlene figures out in these conversations with Ruby why her mom is so against her natural hair.

When Marlene returns home after school on Monday she's terrified to see her mother's reaction to her curls that Ruby helped with. She walks in the door and her mother's immediate reaction is "What did Ruby do?!" and threatens to call her sister and have a talk with her about this. But Marlene steps in and stops her, and talks to her, finally, about how going to the salon and having her hair straightened all the time doesn't make her feel like herself, her natural curls feel more like her and she wants to be free to have her hair how she wants it and not live up to other people's standards of what hair should be deemed "professional" or "lady-like."

The ending of this graphic novel was very cute, and I really appreciated this story. I give it 5/5 stars because I think it sends out a positive and necessary message to anyone with natural curls, and those that feel the need to comment on someone's hair being "unprofessional." I think, while this book may be aimed at a younger audience, it's necessary for everyone, curls or not. We live in a world, especially in the United States at least, where black people and PoC's hair is always a topic of controversy for some reason. There has been a precedent set that natural hair is bad, that black women should have their hair styled all the time to appear more "professional" and "clean." This idea is stemmed from racism, obviously, and it needs to stop. It's even talked about in the book itself, why Marlene's mom stopped wearing her hair naturally and began going to the salon, because she was sent home from school because at the time, her natural hair was unacceptable.

Even in this day and age, in 2022, black people and PoC are constantly criticized for their natural hairstyles. And sometimes, even when their hair is styled, in ways such as dreadlocks, braids, or other popular styles, they are still critiqued for their hair not being "clean" or "professional." I've never really understood the idea of someone's HAIR being unprofessional, it's just hair. Having a different style of hair, different color of hair or whatever is self-expression and I think is very important for every individual. But black people and PoC seem to be the exception to this and it needs to be talked about more, and I think this book does a really good job of representing this idea. That it doesn't matter what your hair looks like, as long as you're happy, that's all that matters.

Again, thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. I heavily enjoyed this one and I think this will be a great read for absolutely anybody, PoC who want to learn self-acceptance, and those of us without naturally curly hair that no one's hairstyle should define who they are or their worth.

First of all, I love the pastel color scheme of this graphic novel. 😍
Second, the story! 💕 This is a story about self-discovery and self-acceptance. about expectations and disappointments and most importantly about staying true to yourself. ☺️
There were moments of emotion and humor, everything you could want from a story like this.
I will be recommending it as much as Katie O'Neill's graphic novels. 💗
I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Absolutely loved it!
It is fun, it is smart, it is super charming.
Great story about a girl embracing her looks and heritage and personality.
Artwork is amazing, characters are full of emotions I just enjoyed so much.

Frizzy is a middle-grade graphic novel that embarks on Marlene's journey to embrace and proudly wear her curly hair, with a few mishaps and a dash of embarrassment along the way.

"Adults are such weirdos. They say stuff like 'it's what on the inside that counts' but then the one thing they can't stop talking about is looks!"
"Be yourself, honesty is the best policy, and then don't be yourself, be what other people want"

I don't remember the last time a graphic novel made me teared up but Frizzy surely touched my soul with the message it tries to deliver. As much as I am not in the same shoes as Marlene for having curly hair (what more when I'm wearing a hijab), it's also the kind of struggle I would understand. To accept your individuality while also not on par with what was supposed to be the standard is not an easy task. But this book shows that everyone is capable of independence and individuality — one just needs to be prepared to take whatever consequences their expression brings and it's the journey that I love to see Marlene discover.

I think it's fitting for its target audience to learn self-acceptance, especially at this crucial stage of adolescence as often, teens compare themselves to what society or their parents say they should be like. I love to see Marlene also getting all the support she could get to help her has an idea of who she is in the eyes of other people. It's just so emotional yet heartwarming.

Not to mention, the illustrations are equally stunning! It was done with such intricate dance between pictures and words, making this an exhilarating journey. The fonts are easy to read and the wordings to aren't cramping with one another. I personally think this was an amazing read!

Couldn't recommend it enough.

I absolutely LOVED this book. Why? cause i can relate to this.

This grapic novel tells us a story about Marlene: Girl with Frizzy hair. Her family had a mindset that only girl with smooth long hair looks beautiful thus she has to visit the saloon every week. She even gets Bullied in her school, family functions But she gather her courage & took a stand for helself, she embraced her hair as it was, she opened up to her mum about it. And it was happy ending. I loved how supportive her bestie was.

I could relate to Marlene as Growing up with my curly hairs was always point of people's talk. They used to criticise me, Calling my hairs Noodles, crows nest and what not. At first it used to hurt me, i used to kept my hairs in braids but not anymore. Just like Marlene. It's my hair and i decided to love them as it is.


Thank you Netgalley & First second books for providing me an advance copy of this book💗

I laughed! I cried! This was awesome and would be a great addition to any classroom shelf. My younger sister has super curly hair and was very insecure about it growing up. This is the sort of representation I wish she had back then.

Well, I just LOVED this. A sweet graphic novel about Marlene, a young latina girl, who has very curly hair, coming from the Black side of her family. And this isn't seen as 'good hair' by her mother and so Marlene has to go to the hair salon every Sunday, to get her hair straightened through a thoroughly torturous process. It's not suprise that Marlene hates to got to the salon, but she feels she can't say this to her mother.

Throughout the book Marlene grapples with this problem - why has her hair have to be straight? Why isn't her natural hair seen as 'good hair'? And what about her aunt, who does wear her hair naturally?

Marlene learns that the idea of 'good hair' (read: caucasian-style straight hair), is a form of anti-Blackness, of internalised racism by part of her community. And so she decides she has to confront her mother.

The writing is light and beautiful, the art is exactly right for the story it's telling. This'll be a great book for boys and girls who don't have a nice aunt who can help them.

Excellent.

Oh my gosh, my heart! I’ve been looking forward to this graphic novel since Claribel A Ortega first announced they were writing this story, and I’m so glad I was able to receive an early copy.

Marlene hates going to the salon and straightening her hair every Sunday, but has been taught it’s necessary for her to be presentable and accepted, both by her peers and her family. Seeing her Tía Ruby with her natural curls at her cousin’s quiñce and seeing her favorite character in Super Amigas with natural curls, Marlene wants to try wearing her hair natural as well. The journey she takes to learn how to care for her hair and listen to the voices that believe she’s beautiful rather than saying she needs to change is such a powerful and important story.

I truly adored this story and my heart is so full with the way Marlene is able to love her hair and deepen her bonds with her best friend Camila, her tía, and her mom. This is so full of love and care, and the art is so perfect for this story. It has several important messages about the anti-Blackness that is such a fraught aspect of conversations around hair, as well as discussions of how generational messages impact the latest generation. Marlene having her aunt to show her how to take care of her hair and hearing stories of how her dad helped her mom love her hair while he was alive after the messages she’d received from Marlene’s grandparents was such an important part of showing different journeys and paths to loving your natural hair. I highly recommend this graphic novel be picked up by everyone because it is so sweet and also has such an important message about what constitutes “good” hair.

[review will go up on blog Oct 16]

This was way too cute! I just loved the art and the story so much. A very important read on loving your hair. I personally have very straight hair to the point which they can't even curl a little (if somehow I can manage some waves they disappear quickly, braids don't stay either, but my hair does get tangled anyways which is annoying but now I have short hair... spoiler, they still tangle, lol) and I always wanted to have some curls, so it was such an interesting read on loving your hair however they are, and if you do want to straighten or curl it to do because YOU want to, not because you feel like you HAVE to. This lesson works in so many areas in life, it's cool.
Marlene has very curly hair but everyone around her tells her that she has bad hair and she should be more like her cousin and should straighten them. Marlene hates the saloon but she doesn't tell her mom, because it makes her happy and she's afraid. Marlene is Dominican so her hair is just natural, but everyone acts like they're bad. At her cousin's quince, she gets humiliated after her hair gets all frizzy. She doesn't really know how to take care of her awesome curly hair but her bestie wants to help, which ends up in a disaster and people bully her at school, while she gets in trouble for it, typical schools... She's very angry at people for being mean to her and when she stands up and talks they say that she is being mean... Her mom sends her to her Tia who rocks curly hair and she loves to love and take care of her beautiful hair.
A pretty sweet and short read, I was so happy when I saw I got accepted today after having requested it for months! I am obsessed with the art style and I love drawing curly hair, people look gorgeous with them so it's a shame that people like to bring others down for such stupid things... Ugh. I also liked that Marlene's aunt told her how this thing is based on racism and anti-blackness and how even in communities where the majority are the same color they praise 'white features' like light eyes and light and straight hair.
Id says it was AWESOME, and I recommend it to younger and older readers alike, though I'm sure people with curly/coily hair would appreciate it the most as they relate to some degree. Still, everyone deals with some prejudice and unnecessary hate on something... It's annoying.

Due to my committee work I am unable to review titles. Please see www.yalsa.alacom/thehub for the blog post on this title.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Wonderful book showcasing the struggles for people of color with non straight hair. Thisay trigger some people, it's worth the read. You have to find your voice and realize that you are beautiful. Amazing story and artwork.

Such a cute and informative read. I get up with intense frizzy and curly hair that was just untamable. Reading this was perfect. The culture that was shown was beautiful and the reality that hair really does play a big part in self confidence is shown significantly throughout. The graphics were gorgeous as well!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved it and it made me cry, really I'm too emotional when it comes to some topics and when it touches kids. It is such a beautiful book, I liked everything about it either the illustrations which are amazing and vibrant or the story which treated about some serious and real topics like self-love, the impact of parents' opinion on their kids' self-esteem and image like the idea of good hair, bad. The author really speaks in a soft way, I might say, about a serious topic such as anti-blackness.

Even if it is a middle grade graphic novel book yet it had some important messages for its readers. I'm sure it will help a lot of kids to learn to accept and love themselves and their differences either when it comes to their hair or the color of their skin. For the adults, it might make them realize their mistakes.

Truly it hurts when you hear a little girl crying and asking her mom that she is not beautiful and wants to have a white skin because, in front of her, a stupid teacher told this little girl's classmate that she is "white" and beautiful. Yeah, this book might help a lot of little girls and maybe mothers to make things easier for their kids at home because they get enough trauma from the others outside.

I adored this book! I loved the art style and the beautiful visuals that accompanied a story full of love, acceptance and going against the grain. These characters made me smile and the messages in this book packed a punch. Highly recommend!

A huge thanks to the publisher for my complimentary copy and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

This is an impactful book that follows Marlene , a young girl struggling with hair . Every week she has to get her hair straightened so she can fit in. This is a positive book about learning to love your hair and everyone should read this book . I loved it and loved the illustrations .

Quince season has arrived and a young Dominicana named Marlene begins to question the routines that she sees her family go through to get ready. Specifically, she is done with having her hair straightened into submission. Marlene’s natural curls are rarely seen as her mother always either straightens or braids her curls. After a tough day with some bullies, Marlene turns to her Aunt Ruby to get some insight on how to take care of her curls and learns that all hair types are presentable, not just those that are straight.

Frizzy is a thoughtful take on the idea of “good hair” in the Dominican culture. The idea of “good or presentable” hair is questioned through the eyes of a child who’d much rather be exploring the world or reading a good book rather than sitting under a hair dryer. While some people straighten for convenience, Frizzy tackles the idea that straight hair is better and more acceptable than wild curls.

There are so many realistic aspects of this novel that took me right back to being a curly-haired child myself. From the prep for attending a quince, the struggle of controlling curls that want to be free, and the idea that hours in the salon are necessary to deal with curly hair.

There’s a section in the book where Tia Ruby lovingly teaches Marlene a curly girl hair routine that Marlene is able to share with her mother. This section reminds children that curls can be managed with the right products and mindset.

I loved this book!! Written by Claribel Ortega and illustrated by Rose Bousamra. There are many layers to the story, with self-love and acceptance at the forefront. It is a beautiful story about a young girl seeking a healthy relationship with her hair. The artwork is beautiful and vibrant, the characters lovingly drawn and the comic sequencing is perfect. Another one for the bookshelf. #kidscomics published by FirstSecond coming out in October. Perfect timing for gift giving.