“My mom had four girls whose hair she combed every day,” author D.H. Whyatt explains, recalling those early hair-care struggles. When Whyatt was young, she had a skin problem that made her scalp extra sensitive, which meant the process of washing and brushing was even more painful. “I remember the tears that ran down my little face and my little hands trying to stop the comb from passing through my hair,” she recalls. “What I remember most about that time was how gentle my mom was trying to be as we both had to endure this activity.”

In Whyatt’s debut picture book, Miranda’s Green Hair, young Miranda hates to have her hair washed, brushed, and combed. She successfully evades her mother’s first attempt to get her to cooperate. When her mother calls her in a second time, Miranda sneaks out of the house and flees to the woods. There, she realizes that she’s made a mistake, but she still won’t go home if she has to have her hair combed: 

That’s what it feels like when Mom combs my hair. / She pulls and she tugs and it hurts everywhere. / The teeth of the comb get stuck in the strands. / And that dumb brush hurts no matter where it lands. / So I won’t let her wash it. I won’t, I don’t dare. / I hate it when Mom washes my hair!…It hurts me so badly, I won’t have it combed. / As long as it hurts, I WON’T go back home.

Luckily, the forest residents are there to care for Miranda. The crane helps Miranda lie back in a stream, the squirrels acquire some shampoo from a nearby campsite, and all the forest creatures work together to braid her hair with natural decorations. The process takes a lot of effort—and meanwhile poor Miranda’s mother is worried sick—but eventually Miranda makes her way home, hair perfectly placed.

Although Whyatt grew up with her own hair struggles, it was the inspiration from friend Dr. Marva Lewis whose work made Whyatt consider creating Miranda. Lewis researches social attachment relationships, and she has developed a curriculum called “Talk, Touch, and Listen While Combing Hair.” Lewis and Whyatt, who in addition to being an author is an occupational therapist based in Louisiana, discussed ways to make that sometimes-difficult time of day a smoother one for families. “She invited me to several sessions [of the course], and at one time stated that she wished that she had something that could stimulate conversation,” Whyatt explains. “I told her that I might be able to write something.”

Whyatt had long written for fun or for church programs and family reunions, but she had never set out to write a children’s book. “I thought I would write a poem or just a couple of paragraphs,” she admits. Instead, she wrote a 72-page, rhyming picture book featuring a little girl with green hair. Why green? The advice again came from Dr. Lewis. “Her thought was that it would allow more children to connect to the story, because it would become more about the hair experience and less about a character that looked like any group of children in particular,” Whyatt explains.

The time spent brushing hair—Dr. Lewis’ research suggests that between the ages of 1 and 10, a child has 4,380 opportunities to bond with a parent during hair-combing—can be used for affirmations and lessons as well as for sharing stories or having a conversation. While Miranda’s story centers around her hair, Whyatt seeded other ideas within the text to spark conversation. She hopes readers will notice how worried Miranda’s mother is when she runs away and realize that “running away is never a good solution.” But she also hopes the magical woods that Miranda visits might kindle other questions, whether about what the woods might look like in the dark or about what a child might take with them on a journey. “I think Miranda could be used to stir lots of questions,” she says. 

The book itself is designed for reading together. In addition to the full-color images, which Whyatt directed during their creation by her hand-picked artist, Miranda’s text is presented in a larger green font, making it easy to identify at a glance. Whyatt hopes that parents will use a childlike voice for Miranda, helping encourage their children’s excitement about the magic of reading. By making reading fun for the parents, Whyatt believes it will encourage children to become better readers and to have the resources they need to succeed. “I understand that if parents are uncomfortable and dislike the reading/teaching process, their children may not learn to enjoy to read,” she says. “If it were just for enjoyment, we would not have such a big problem. But herein lies the problem: first, we learn to read, and then we read to learn.”

Whyatt’s own educational disappointments as a young college student drove her concerns about reading. Although she was valedictorian of her high school and was admitted into an Ivy League university, she struggled to keep up with the other students. “I didn’t fail to become an engineer because my mind wasn’t sharp enough,” Whyatt explains. “I failed because after absorbing all that my high school had to offer, it wasn’t enough for me to [be able to] compete [at that level].”

Providing the resources for children to continue with their educations is another act of caring along with the personal, nurturing encounters that can become part of the daily hair routine. By combining the daily hair ritual with an experience of reading together—about a rambunctious girl who struggles with her own hair—Whyatt offers parents an opportunity to connect with their children. By focusing on Miranda’s story, maybe the pulls and prods of their own hair might feel a little smoother.

Alana Joli Abbott writes about pop culture, fantasy and science fiction, and children’s books, which she reviews with the help of her kids.