Afro: The Girl With The Magical Hair was originally a short story about a girl called Oghoghotionmwantiomesiemerijie (not a typo) or O…AfrO for short.
Afro is from the far away land of Lolovita. Afro had the biggest hair in the kingdom and this hair, which was magical, by the way, helped her save a Prince from a random kingdom and kill a wicked Queen. She used oils on her hair to help her ‘fro grow so high.
The story was originally available on Okada Books in ePub format.
The story is now being made into a real children’s book and will be published by Farafina Books. Both physical and ebook versions of Afro: The Girl With The Magical Hair is written by Okechukwu Ofili.
Okechukwu Ofili is the founder of e-reading platform, @okadabooks, an illustrator and a blogger at Ofilispeaks. Most people call him Ofilispeaks, because he is a public speaker as well. Okechukwu has also published other books including ‘How Stupidity Saved My Life’ and ‘How Laziness Saved My Life’.
This book is particularly great because it not only celebrates the African woman and her natural hair, it is potentially laying the foundation Afro to be one of the few – or nonexistent – superheroes in literature for young black girls.
The illustrations in the book are by Sharee Miller, an illustrator who aims for bright, colorful and whimsical designs and art geared towards children. In anticipation of Afro, some of Sharee’s natural hair illustrations are:
And
Look at this one.
By all indications, the illustrations in the book will be as amazing as these ones.
These images are equally as beautiful as those by illustrator Ekpemi Anni in her book My Lovely Hair.
Some of our new titles coming your way soon! Watch this space for updates. pic.twitter.com/X5DNya3Cqs
— Farafina Books (@farafinabooks) August 17, 2015
The release date for “Afro – The Girl With the Magical Hair” has not been set yet, but we will let you know as soon as it is.