REVIEW: Where Did Momo’s Hair Go?
Details
Author: Stéphanie Boyer
Illustrator: Caroline Hamel
Publisher: Crackboom Books
Expected Date of Publication: June 2023
Review
Where Did Momo’s Hair Go? features a clown named Momo who loses his wig on his way to catch the bus. Readers follow Momo’s wig around town as it zips, floats, and flutters from head to head. The catch? Each head it lands on is a different type of dog. Each time the wig is sent flying, the text asks, “Where did Momo’s hair go?” until it lands in its rightful place. Or…maybe not.
Where Did Momo’s Hair Go? is a fun romp around a vibrant town featuring a variety of townsfolk doing all kinds of interesting things making the illustrations fun to scour. The mystery of where the wig will end up next keeps the pages turning. The illustrations are as zany as the dogs’ antics, with the town’s characters a mixture of humans and animals styled in almost futuristic ways. The colour palette is bright and made up of mainly primary and secondary colours.
The cover copy gives a false impression of what the reader will find inside. The copywriter did almost too good a job, as they wrote a lovely lyrical blurb leaving the reader expecting a lyrical story. The text however fall much more flat, with something likely lost in translation from the original French version.
More importantly, the book has a diversity problem. Though many skin tones exist (white, pink, blue, orange), there are no black or brown faces. This could be due to the choice of a limited colour palette, however where ethnicity is evident, stereotypes abound, such as an Asian person wearing what appears to be a Tang Dynasty era up do, or a Jewish person with a bushy beard and fedora. Also troubling is that everyone in this town appears to be able-bodied. There isn’t a single assistive device in sight…unless you count a few eyeglasses. With so many characters, there are a plethora of missed opportunities to authentically represent more diverse faces, bodies, and identities.
A fun read for those looking for visually stimulating materials.
Reviewed digitally via NetGalley.
