Sylviane A. Diouf

Bintou longs for braids like adults but they say she is too young. In the African culture displayed in the book, braided hairstyles were only for mature elder woman. She aspired to be like her sister and those around her with gold coins and seashells in her hair. She wanted so badly to fit in and feel beautiful within her physical attributes such as hair. She does a good responsible deed of getting help for drowning boys, she then earns a reward. She wanted her reward to be nice braids like everyone else but she keeps her tuffs and adds blue and yellow birds like in her dreams. The tuffs she decided made her different which could be good, she was beautiful without copying others. She finally felt happy and pretty. The illustrations done by Evans transforms you into Bintou's culture and environment very well.… (mere)