A wonderul middle grade graphic novel about a girl who struggles with her natural hair. She wants to embrace it just the way it is but family, particulary her mother, try to get her to conform to "traditional" beauty standards. Excellent message about not placing one's worth on external things.

Where was this book when I was a teen?! I would have loved to read this story, as my hair is curly and tends to stand on one end when the humidity gets high.
Marlene has it tough. She dreads salon visits every Sunday and the negative comments from family members about how her hair never seems to behave. As a girl, she's not allowed to speak up or fight back, and she hates it. Cousins pick on her, and bullies notice if she tries to fix her hair. Day by day, people chip away at her self-esteem. Her best friend tries to help, as does YouTube. They may need information from the source, however, from someone who has similar hair. That person may be Marlene's Aunt Ruby.
It's tough when you have naturally curly hair. Having thick curly hair, though, is even worse than having it fine, as specific products are required. Once you know, however, it gets easier.
What also is tough is when you don't have a voice to fight back. Schools are tougher on victims than their bullies. Marlene finally notes this when her cousin is rude to her, snapping that Diana always gets what she wants because she's the token pretty one.
I do think that Marlene's mother should have heard the stylist's passive-aggressive comments ages ago. Honestly, if a stylist is that rude, it's not worth staying with them. The woman that treats Marlene and her mother is just plain rude and would be on Not Always Right in this day and age.

This is a fantastic graphic novel with tons of heart and lots of thought provoking concepts and perspective. I love how family was always kept at the core of the story, both those living and gone playing a central role in the conflict and the resolution, and the explanation of how generations have struggled to become accepted in appearance and identity. We often say looks don’t matter, it’s what’s inside that counts, but are still guilty of judging others by physical traits such as skin color, weight, and yes, hair. This dazzling edition of a graphic novel approaches the topic from a youthful eye and pushes a delightful young soul that wants to express herself into the spotlight as she questions concepts of “good hair” versus “ bad hair” and how these words can inflict pain on a growing mind, and how the acceptance of those closest to us can strengthen our self esteem, our sense of who we are, and our relationships with beloved relatives who might just need a gentle push to accept themselves as well. Stunning art work that is emotionally impacting and a story that whisks along to a heartwarming conclusion. Like all comings of age, there are some stumbles along the way that make this story all the richer for its believable characters, including a very cute chicken that deserves a fair amount of cuddling, a free spirited aunt who makes a worrisome and once painful attempt to control some unruly locks of hair a sheer delight, and a patient and guiding mother who must overcome her own past to help her bright, exuberant daughter shine.

A beautiful, hopeful story about loving and accepting yourself, about family expectations, ridiculous beauty standards, inherited biases, hypocrisy in parenting, racial heritage and bullying.

Marlene has bad hair - at least that's what most of her family says. In result, Marlene dreads Sundays, because that's when her mom takes her to a hair salon to straighten her frizzy, curly locks. It's painful, it's boring and she doesn't feel herself with straight hair. She'd much rather hang out with her best friend Camila or her cool tia Ruby. Through these lens we explore Marlene's relationship with her traditional, Dominican mom, with the rest of her family as well as her situation at school.

This was such a great story, it managed to discuss so many topics in such a short book. I especially loved how Marlene's relationship with her mom was depicted, showing us how biases and harmful believes are passed on through generations, and how through healthy communication and continuous learning we can overcome them together. What's more, we had some beautiful, strong female characters, like Camila and tía Ruby, who provided healthy, supportive relationships in Marlene's life.
Marlene herself goes on a tumultuous, challenging and emotional journey of finding a way to accept, express and love herself throughout this story. 'Frizzy' was an inspiring, sometimes painful and heartfelt story, and I'd recommend it to everyone, despite their hair style.

This middle-grade graphic novel is fantastic. Marlene wants nothing more than to stop worrying about her hair. Her mom drags her to the salon every Sunday and makes her undergo the long, painful, and expensive straightening process so that she can have "good hair."

As Marlene struggles to break out of this mold, she is bullied at school for her natural hair. Even worse, when she attempts to stand up for herself, she gets a worse consequence than the kid who bullied her. Thankfully, Marlene's Tia Ruby has embraced her own curly hair and helps Marlene to love her curly hair.

One of the deepest moments, and my favorite, was when Marlene and Ruby helped Marlene's mom rekindle her own love for her natural hair, while also processing grief from the death of her husband. This lovely, intergenerational story will be so important to helping kids understand the beauty of their natural hair while also understanding some of the pain that's been caused by the policing of certain hairstyles. This beautiful story is a must-read!

(Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the eARC in exchange for a review)

4.5 ⭐️
I loved this book! A great middle grade graphic novel about self acceptance in a world that is trying to tell you what is beautiful. Any girl that grew up going to the salon every week or relaxing their hair can relate to the main character, Marlene. So many of us grow up like Marlene, thinking we have"bad" hair because it isn't straight. We get to see Marlene's journey as realizes who she is and stands up for herself. This graphic novel deals with heavy topics such as society's beauty standards, anti-blackness, death, and bullying, but a level that is appropriate but relatable for middle grade students.

Well, this was adorable and precious, and a very necessary story to be told! Frizzy follows Marlene, a young Dominican girl whose mother makes her get her hair straightened every week, but all Marlene wants is to wear her natural curls and be herself. It's an incredibly uplifting, family-oriented story of how much of an impact our family members' unkind and shallow commentary can have on our lives, as well as focusing on colorism, anti-Blackness, and the pain that comes with being told your natural appearance isn't "good enough", professional enough, etc.

The art is gorgeous, Marlene is such a lovable protagonist, and I really enjoyed her Tía Ruby, her best friend Camila, and even her mother (she has room to grow, but luckily we get to see that progress in the end!). I'm so happy that this book exists and highly recommend it to any young reader, but especially young readers who will be able to relate to Marlene's feelings about her hair and how society views it.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.

Such a beautiful, heart touching book with a powerful message!
Plus the illustrations were amazing and the theme of the book is perfect.
The way the protagonist battles her way through self-acceptance and helps her mother with the same while she is at it, too is just amazing!
Definitely a 5 out of 5!
I recommend this book to everyone, a must read!

I love this story so much. It's so relatable. When I was younger, and hairdressers would say my hair was too full, it was too hard, they would use heat (I still hate heat so much). So Marlene is literally a lot of us black and brown girls and we know what it's like to feel like

Our kinky, nappy, curly hair isn't good enough for societal standards of beauty. But I'm glad that we've accepted that every curl is beautiful and remember to love the process of growth whether your hair is locked, in braids, in twists, under a wig, in cornrows, or even shaved.❤

And it's important to have friends like Carmilla who validates our feelings as well as encourage us to never let what people say get to us.

"You didn't do this for them or anyone else. You did it for you. Are you happy?"

It's important to do things for yourself, for your happiness. You don't need anyone's validation to define what beauty means to you.💕

There's nothing more special than family, love, and your kinky hair💕🥺.
I think every Brown and Black girls should have a copy of Frizzy by Claribel A Ortega on their bookshelf to remind her how beautiful her hair💕.

Thank you Claribel A Ortega and Rose Bousamra for bringing this story to life. And to Every Tia Ruby out there that makes every Marlene out there see the beauty in her curly hair.

My hair is nowhere near as curly as Marlene's but uff did this book take me back 😩. I spent so much of my childhood being told by family, peers, & stylists that my thick, dry, frizzy hair only looked good when it was blow-dried and straightened that I can't remember ever *not* believing it. I'd cry myself to sleep over how much I hated my "bad" hair (which, like in FRIZZY, looked nothing like my cousins'), and by the time I was a teenager, this had evolved into me asking for brazilian keratin treatments for my birthdays (a chemical procedure that makes your hair straighter for several months) and begging to go to the salon before quinceañeros, family parties, and dates.

I may not have had kids put tape in my hair, like at Marlene's school, but I can't tell you how many times boys threw coins at the back of my head to see if I would feel them.... (I didn't 😔). The one time I attempted to go to school with my hair styled curly (in high school), everyone had something negative to say about it, and I didn't try again until college.

All this to say that hair is complicated, and feelings about hair are complicated, and even at (almost) 34 yrs of age I'm still working on hair neutrality, if not positivity 😮‍💨. But I'll never regret putting down the straightener, and if I had had a book like this when I was younger? I would have done it much *much* sooner.

Absolutely loved this graphic novel! I'm a huge fan of the author's previous middle grade titles, so I was happy to pick this one up to read. An important, sweet and beautifully illustrated story about the independence and self love.

This is the kind of curly girl representation that I wish I had growing up!! The art is fun and the story is well written. It made me proud to have curly hair which is a feeling that I wish I had when I was growing up in the 2000s.

I really enjoyed this discussion and representation of the value of curly hair. I would recommend this to anyone, not just children.

eceived an eArc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Frizzy tells the story of Marlene, a girl who dreads her Sunday hair salon appointments her mother schedules for her to make her curly hair straight and “presentable.” However with the help of her friend Camila and her Tia Ruby, she learns to embrace her curly hair.

This book was fantastic. It delves into important topics with sensitivity and consideration. It touches on hair expectations (“good” vs. “bad” hair), familial expectations, generational trauma, and grief after a parent death. Marlene’s mother goes through her own journey to acceptance through the novel as well. The drawings were amazing throughout and brought the characters to life.

I would highly recommend this book for intermediate and middle school classrooms.

I had the opportunity to read thanks to Netgalley who gave me a digital advanced copy, this comic will be released on October 18 and if you have the opportunity to read it I super mega recommend it. It is a short and super easy to read story that you will devour in a blink of an eye, with beautiful illustrations and a story that is ideal for all ages but especially for the youngest.

Frizzy is a graphic novel about texturism and how one girl, Marlene, is struggling with it from her family and classmates. It impacts her self-esteem and physically hurts when her mom makes her go to the salon to get her hair braided and straightened, and when her classmates attack her hair. Frizzy is heartbreaking, revolutionary, educational, and powerful.

I recommend this to anyone wanting to unlearn their own biases against hair texture, and anyone who considers themselves to be anti-racist.
Content warning: bullying, grief, loss of a parent (it happened in the past) racism via texturism (comments about good hair, family favoritism and bullying due to hair texture, painful salon trips, and Marlene's hair was a target of verbal and physical bullying at school)

Please read own-voices reviews on this as they are far more important and informative about the importance of this representation. I haven't read every review from Goodreads, but these are the ones that got me interested in reading Frizzy.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4781272996
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4758883530
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4618574416
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4794760388
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4757930891
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4764337695
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4807063073
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4765754747

As the only child in the family with curly hair and no one who could teach me how to manage it, I needed this book as a kid. I was tearing up at the end. I felt like the scenes at the salon were snapshots of my own experiences. Oh, how I understood the teasing at school, being compared to the cousins, and going to quinces.

I appreciate that the author challenges the notion that children have to respect adults, when adults themselves don’t follow their own advice. I love that there was also redemption for flawed adults. Although, this may not be often true in reality, it allows adults reading this for/with children to look inwardly and serves as a gentle reminder that we have our own work to do, too. And for those children not reading this along with adults, it gives them voice to respectfully challenge the inconsistencies in their adults’ arguments.

Another reviewer mentioned that it was important for the MC to tell her mom the truth rather than avoid her, because we don’t want youth reading this to learn that avoidance is ok. However, I think that taking this part out or revising it, is avoiding an opportunity to discuss this part with kids. It’s a very realistic part of the plot, especially given all the reasons why the MC does this.

I didn’t have a Tía Ruby or bestie Camilla, and for all the kids who also don’t have this type of support, Frizzy is this for them. I strongly recommend this book for educators, parents, and anyone who doesn’t have curly hair, as a good conversation starter about describing and touching other people’s hair, as well as discussing anti-Blackness. I can’t wait to get a copy to share with my family.

THANK YOU to First Second & NetGalley for sending me this ARC. All reviews are honest reflections of my own opinions, always.

Every Sunday a knot forms in Marlene's stomach. It's Salon day.

At her Mother's insistence, every single week she sits in the beautician's chair listening to personal insults as her "bad hair" is transformed from a riot of curls into more socially accepted straight locks. That is, until Marlene has had enough.

Enough of being compared to to prettier girls. Enough of being told to act like a lady when all she wants is to be a kid. Enough of the bullying from family and peers, of being told beauty is on the inside when clearly that must be a lie.

In a small act of defiance, Marlene lets her natural hair take center stage, but not knowing how to care for it leads to disaster both at school, and worse when she must go home to face her Mother.



I really loved this story of Marlene, who's of Honduran descent. Bringing forward topics of ethnic erasure & pressures many feel necessary to fit in with a more widely accepted culture.
Frustrating, relatable in many ways, with giggle worthy moments & a dose of healthy communication.

This was a beautiful, quick read and one that young people and adults alike can enjoy!

The experience of anti-blackness is one that I have heard of however as a white person am mainly unfamiliar with, and this graphic novel explains it extremely well.

This book deals with many themes, including death of a parent, culture, expectations and inclusivity along with acceptance of ones self.

A fantastic read that I would for sure share with my younger sisters!

Thank you for the e-copy of this and opportunity to read and review this beautiful book!

I write this review at work as I think to myself, "it is humid outside... did I use enough hairspray to tame my flyaways?".

I loved this book. I wish that I had this as a middle-grader and learning how to handle my more than wave/ less than super curly hair after my mother died. This book featured components I felt in junior high as far as how to broach the topic of a dead parent with the living parent and how to "figure" out your hair with a distant relative. More than figuring out how to handle one's hair, this book showed how to navigate relationships with peers and adults.

I cannot forget to add, the the color theme and illustrations were fantastic.

If you are looking for a simple way to add a BIPOC author into your collection or rather expand the collection of others, this a great book!

***Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley in providing me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.***