My Powerful Hair

Ages 4 to 8

From the award-winning and bestselling author of We Are Water Protectors comes an empowering picture book about family history, self-expression, and reclaiming your identity

Our ancestors say our hair is our memories,

our source of strength and power,

a celebration of our lives.

Mom never had long hair—she was told it was too wild. Grandma couldn’t have long hair—hers was taken from her. But one young girl can’t wait to grow her hair long: for herself, for her family, for her connection to her culture and the Earth, and to honor the strength and resilience of those who came before her.

From Carole Lindstrom, author of the New York Times bestseller and Caldecott Medal winner We Are Water Protectors, and debut illustrator Steph Littlebird comes an empowering and healing celebration of hair and its significance across Indigenous cultures.

About the Author

Carole Lindstrom is a New York Times-bestselling and award-winning author of literature for young people, including of the Caldecott Medal-winning We Are Water Protectors. She is Anishinaabe/Métis and an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. She is honored to write books that allow her to shine a light on her beautiful people and their strength and resilience. Her tribal homelands are in Belcourt, North Dakota, but she was born and raised in Nebraska and currently makes her home in Maryland. Steph Littlebird is an Indigenous artist, writer, curator, and a member of Oregon's Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. Her work combines traditional aesthetics with contemporary materials and subject matter to forge connections between our collective past and imminent future. Littlebird was the 2020-2021 fellow of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Littlebird received national recognition as curator of This IS Kalapuyan Land (2020) an exhibition at the Five Oaks Museum in Portland, which was featured by ArtNews and PBS NewsHour. She currently lives in Las Vegas.