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Big Wig: A Little History of Hair

 

Throughout human history, people have done crazy things to their hair. Here, Krull and Malone combine wild facts about hair from history with illustrations which ape famous works of art.  We follow history chronologically, learning about the white spiked do worn by the Celts a few millenia ago, the early years of shampoo, and the inspiration for the Dorothy Hamill cut.  None of the information goes in-depth – we generally only read a few – albeit entertaining – sentences about each fact.  The real feature is the illustrations, though most children will likely not recognize the referenced works of art.  The images have elements of surrealism – for example, the first blonde cave woman is pictured made up like Marilyn Monroe.  Malone’s illustrations are attractive and fun to look at, but children looking for  historical information may be frustrated by the lack of concrete detail or context.  Included is an appendix (titled “Hair Extensions”) of sorts, which includes additional facts for each period.  There is no explanation and nothing to distinguish between the facts included in the main body of the book versus this section, so the reader must wonder why they are included in this way, instead of on the relevant pages.  Although this is an attractive package and fun to read, the sparse information, overly tongue-in-cheek illustrations, and odd organization of the information makes this an additional purchase.