Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut facts for kids
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| Author | Derrick Barnes |
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| Publisher | Denene Millner Books, Agate Publishing |
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Publication date
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October 10, 2017 |
| Pages | unpaged |
| Awards | Caldecott Honor, Coretta Scott King author and illustrator awards, Newbery Honor |
| ISBN | 978-1-57284-224-3 |
| OCLC | 1039547840 |
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut is a popular picture book from 2017. It was written by Derrick Barnes and illustrated by Gordon C. James. This book was Barnes' first picture book. It tells a story through a poem about how a boy feels when he gets a haircut. Gordon C. James used oil paints for the pictures. He wanted them to look like beautiful fine art.
Crown was very well-liked by many people. Derrick Barnes won a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Award in 2018 for his writing. Gordon C. James also won a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Award for his amazing illustrations. People who reviewed the book liked its special setting. They also praised how it celebrated African Americans, especially young boys.
What the Story is About
The book tells the story from the point of view of a young Black boy. It describes his exciting experience at a barbershop. This is where he gets a cool new haircut.
How the Book Was Made
Derrick Barnes had written several books for middle schoolers before. One day, he saw a friend's drawing of a teenager. This inspired him to write a poem about getting a fresh haircut. Someone then asked him if he had any books about the everyday life of a normal African American boy. That's when he decided to turn his poem into a book.
Since this was Barnes' first picture book, he thought carefully about how to spread his poem across the pages. It's not common for authors to pick their own illustrators for children's books. But after other illustrators said no, Barnes directly asked Gordon C. James to do the artwork. Barnes felt their connection was "meant to be." James agreed, saying, "I think the key is that our artistic styles really complement each other."
Barnes explained that the word "fresh" might seem old-fashioned to some. However, he believed it was a timeless word in the Black community, especially when talking about a haircut. He remembered how independent he felt after leaving the barber. He felt like the "best version of myself." Barnes was a bit worried that the poem might lose its special meaning when it was turned into a picture book.
Important Messages and Artwork
Critics highlighted that the book features a modern African American boy. It takes place in a barbershop, which is a very important place in African American culture. The book also shows different kinds of haircuts that some readers might not know about. Many critics agreed with Barnes' note in the book. They said that the barbershop is one of the few places, besides church, that truly celebrates and honors African American boys.
This celebration of the boy helps to build the book's message of self-confidence and pride. But the book doesn't just celebrate boys. It celebrates all African Americans, even women. The boy in the story imagines who else might be sharing the barbershop space with him. The book's title, Crown, also hints at the special hats African American women wear to church. All these ideas are brought together by Barnes' "rhythmic" writing, which is full of cool and exciting words.
Gordon C. James said that creating the cover art was easy for him after reading the poem. He was inspired by the confident attitude of the boy at the end of the book. His goal for the cover was to make it look like a beautiful piece of art or even a photograph. After sketching small ideas, James painted with oil colors on special illustration boards. Barnes' son, Silas, was the model for the boy in the book. The barber in the story is based on James' own son's barber.
James' oil paintings were compared to the famous artist Basquiat. This is because of the detailed and realistic portraits. The illustrations show many different and "beautiful" African-American skin tones and hairstyles. Critics loved the cover of the book. They also noted that James' artwork perfectly balanced the real experience of getting a haircut with the boy's imaginative feelings.
