As much as everyone would like to deny it, lice continue to be a problem wherever children gather. Caldecott Honor winner David Shannon (No, David!) takes the shame out of this reality and tackles the topic with a winning blend of humor and facts.
"One day, my mom made a terrible, awful discovery... Head Lice!" Shannon begins. He introduces a redheaded boy watching his mother's meltdown--horror-stricken, she leaps into the air, limbs flailing. Next, in a cartoon-like full-spread illustration, Shannon zooms in on the guilty creatures wrapping their six legs around the boy's red locks: "There were Bugs! In my Hair!! And they were laying Eggs!!!" reads the text below. Shannon expertly toggles between the boy's real-life experience and his flights of fancy about the creatures' activities. The narrator digs his fingers into his red mop wondering, "What in the heck were they doing up there?" A turn of the page reveals the fanciful answer: "Lice-A-Palooza!" Lice play the banjo and the fiddle with limbs to spare, swinging from the poor boy's strands. A bug in full vampire regalia follows, revealing their true purpose: "Actually, they were feasting on my Blood.*" (Footnote: "*Ick!") The author-artist addresses the feelings of a child with head lice ("Everyone will know. I won't have any friends") and the misinformation circulated ("Relax. Dogs don't get head lice").
Shannon equips readers with a treatment and with the knowledge that they are not alone in this potentially shameful predicament. This much-needed book provides both reassurance and comic relief.--Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness