Messy Hair
Gretchen Grace
Hardcover
(Sock Monkey Press, Dec. 31, 2015)
Two doll pals invite each other to a very proper tea party but their hair is just too messy. Brushing doesn't do the trick. What would work? They imagine other solutions visiting a birdbath or a car wash . . . and then - A-HA! the winner: a trip to the beauty parlor where hijinks ensue. In the end, freshly coiffed and very fancy, the dolls finally sit down to enjoy their tea party. Note from the author: In 2008, I was photographing old dolls using a medium-format camera. The dolls all had such soulful eyes, I was certain that they were trying to tell me their stories. I began prowling secondhand stores and stoop sales, collecting all kinds of dolls to photograph. The more expressive, the better; I particularly loved the ones that were no longer pristine, the ones that had been drawn on, or had their hair cut, or wore mismatched or handmade clothes. Growing up, I loved Dare Wright books, so I decided to re-interpret those photographic children s books for today's new readers. Messy Hair is the first of several photo-driven books to come.