#543 - I Won’t Wash My Hair

by Aparna Kapur and illustrated by Ogin Nayam

“I Won’t Wash My Hair” by Aparna Kapur and illustrated by Ogin Nayam. Published by Duckbill. A delightful story of a little girl who does not like to wash her hair.

Divya is overjoyed when her parents go to Kolkata for two weeks. There is no need for her to wash her hair now. Alpa Masi and her dog Riksha have come to stay with her till her parents are back. Divya explains how washing hair was so boring and painful with the shampoo getting into her eyes. Besides what was the use of going through the ordeal only to find her hair getting dirty once again. Poor masi had no choice but to give in to Divya’s plans and let her be however she wanted.

Divya went without washing her hair for five days! She started finding lots of things in her hair like pencils, peanuts, paintbrushes and the likes. It didn’t matter to her at all. She was saving so much time which would otherwise have been wasted washing her hair. This was definitely better. Her teacher started sending her to the back of the class as her hair started smelling. Even this didn’t affect Divya. How long would she go on like this? Will she ever get back to washing her hair? Can anything or anyone make her change her mind? Read the charming book to find out more about Divya’s story of the time she refused to wash her hair.

This is one of those cute stories that appealed to me as well as my ten year old son right away. Such a relatable topic after all. Having seen a few little children in our circles who did not like to wash their hair and threw huge tantrums each time they were taken for a head bath :) The entire book was relished with smiles on our faces. We loved Divya’s spunky nature and the absurd scrapes that she got into. My son who loves taking head bath every single day now wonders if it would be a good idea to skip doing so once in a while so that he might be sent out of class like Divya ;) The illustrations stole the limelight for us. Being bright and cheery, they complement the storyline brilliantly. We couldn’t stop turning the pages to gape at them and wonder what was coming next. The ending was quite unexpected and my son wasn’t sure if that would work for Divya after all :)

The book is part of the “hook book” series by Duckbill and well suited for children who are beginning to read on their own. The fairly large sized text along with pictures are very helpful in making the gradual transition to chapter books with lesser pictures.

Recommended Age

The book is apt for children aged 5 and above.

Disclaimer - We received this book from the publisher, Penguin India (Duckbill), for review. Thank you to Mansi, from Penguin, for sending across the book!