My Mad Hair Day

Thanks to her wild head of hair, Malie gets all tangled up with an unexpected cast of characters in this funny, stylish twist of a tall tale.

Malie is a little girl with huge, uncontrollable hair. And this morning, it seems wilder than ever. She tries to comb it. She tries to hide it, but nothing works! And things go from bad to worse when her mother sends her out to run some errands.

At the bakery, Malie's hair sweeps a tray of cupcakes off the counter. A flock of birds makes her irresistible nest a home. A child on a tricycle slips and flips -- but enjoys the softest landing in Malie's hair.

Her wild mane becomes more and more of a burden, both physically and emotionally. But after a quick nap, Malie can appreciate the world anew. She smells delicious cupcakes, hears a chorus of birds singing, and meets a new friend who happens to have curly hair, too.

In her eagerly anticipated authorial debut, Nathalie Dion draws on personal experience, hilarious hyperbole and delightful idioms to spin a tall tale that will tickle all readers -- curly-haired or not.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Nathalie Dion is an illustrator living in Montreal who studied Design Arts at Concordia University. Her other children's books include I Found Hope in a Cherry Tree by Jean E. Pendziwol, The Biggest Puddle in the World by Mark Lee and What's in Your Purse? by Abigail Samoun. Nathalie has received a number of awards for her illustration and has exhibited her work in Montreal galleries.