Crazy Hair - Neil Gaiman

Illustrator: Dave McKean
Published May, 2009
40 pgs.
$18.99
Harper Collins
For: Older kids - I can't wait to share it with my class.
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Indigo

The illustrations were really different, and I was prepard to not like them, but....I did! The hair iteself is wonderful, and all the detailed crevices and splashes of beautiful color, are, well, whimsical in a sophisticated way.

And the writing. Great rhyme and rhythm. IIt would make a great rock song. Let's put it to music! We hear all about what resides in this crazy, long hair. And we find out what happens when a young girl tries to comb it all out - she gets sucked in and begins to live there. Fun, fun, fun.

"This hair, you know,
Is all my own
Since I was two
My hair has grown.
Birds fly down
From everywhere
Nesting in my
crazy hair."

and

"Huge balloons
Come down to land.
People wave.
It's very grand.
They take off
From everywhere,
Drift across my crazy hair."

Every page I turn I love to read. Wonderful language, wonderful words.

Let's add some more scenes - what a great extension/writing/art project. More, more!

Other, more comprehensive reviews than mine:
Book Aunt (Kate Coombs)
Letter Rip (Letters to the authors and illlustrators)