Franny B. Kranny, There's a Bird in Your Hair!

Franny B. Kranny marches to the beat of a different hairdresser. When her family encourages her to cut her long, frizzy, troublemaking red hair, she refuses outright. She loves her hair. And when, before the big family reunion, a hairdresser tries to tame her mop, piling it in a heap on top of her head, Franny seethes and schemes. But then something funny happens on the way home. A bird lands in Franny's hair, and she decides the fancy new hairdo isn't so bad after all. The snuggled-down bird presents some technical difficulties: getting into bed and taking a bath, for example. But when Franny turns out to be the hit of the family party, and her formerly disapproving parents and sister change their tune, this individualist does an about-face yet again! Authors (and sisters) Harriet Lerner and Susan Goldhor previously teamed up on What's So Terrible About Swallowing an Apple Seed?. In their latest endeavor, they create an appealing heroine and a thoroughly delightful, funny story that will have young readers everywhere daring to be different. World-renowned, award-winning illustrator Helen Oxenbury depicts with great humor the fiercely independent redhead, her mother (who has her own bizarre 'do), her prissy, sleek-haired sis, and the rest of the Kranny clan. (Ages 4 to 7) --Emilie Coulter