The Braid Girls

April 1, 2023

Gr 4-8-Twelve-year-olds Daija and Maggie are looking forward to a summer as junior counselors at a day camp in their north-eastern Florida hometown. They also have plans to set up a business braiding the hair of campers. Both girls are dealing with family issues. Bold ballet dancer Daija worries that her father cares more about his new family than he does about her. Quiet, practical Maggie is nervously awaiting the arrival of her half-sister, Callie, whom she didn't know existed until recently. After some initial conflict, Maggie and Daija decide that Callie can join them in their braiding business. As soon as they begin to develop a clientele, a group of rival counselors decide to start up a competing business. Throughout the summer, the girls deal with competition, friendship, money, and family. They struggle with these challenges in age-appropriate ways and learn from their mistakes. Told in alternating viewpoints, readers see the challenges faced by the three girls from different angles. The family drama is exclusively focused on the perspective of the young leads, and conflict between their parents is not a part of the story. The characters are likable, the conclusion is satisfying, and the business plot means there are lots of beautiful descriptions of different natural Black hair styles. VERDICT This enjoyable slice-of-life novel centers three Black girls navigating family, friendship, and belonging.-Kristin L. Anderson

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 8, 2023
Hoping to make extra money over the summer, best friends Daija and Maggie, who are both Black, are excited to launch their hair-braiding business while undertaking their responsibilities as junior counselors at Paradise Park camp. Daija plans to use the funds to pay for a ballet tutor, while Maggie yearns to impress her strict father with her success. Since Maggie is the “pie-in-the-sky type of girl” and Daija is the “getting it done type,” the pair feel that they’re perfectly matched to take on this endeavor and build a booming business. But when Maggie’s father introduces Maggie to her biracial half sister Callie, whose mother recently died, Maggie struggles to incorporate Callie into her already established summer plans. Daija and Maggie begrudgingly invite Callie to join their Braid Girls team, but while their business launch is good, emerging competition threatens their progress. Daija, meanwhile, struggles with feelings of jealousy over Callie and Maggie’s budding siblinghood, and the two besties must reckon with how life changes will affect their future friendship. In this loving ode to the beauty of Black hair, Winston winningly portrays the girls’ ambitious entrepreneurial spirit and competitive drive, and explores, via their shifting dynamics and emotional openness, the complexities of blended families. Ages 8–12.

July 1, 2023
It's a big summer for middle schooler Maggie: she is starting a braiding business with her best friend, Daija, and she will be meeting her half-sister, Callie, who is from the Bahamas, for the first time. Callie's mother recently passed away, and Callie will be moving in with Maggie's family in Jacksonville, Florida. While Maggie is welcoming to Callie, Daija is not so happy about this new sister, as she and Maggie are practically sisters. Protective of her friendship and their new braiding enterprise, Daija is not interested in embracing Callie and is determined not to be replaced by a stranger. However, Callie soon becomes the least of their worries as nemesis Angela and her crew decide to open a competing braid business and start to steal their customers. Is it possible for the three girls to overcome their differences and insecurities and become sisters and friends? Drama between the Braid Girls and the Sistahs Who Braid heats up as the competition for business leads to a memorable climax. A summer crush for Maggie lends extra excitement. Told through the alternating points of view of the three girls, the story explores themes of friend and family relationships, grief, bullying, divorce, and parental absence, all handled with care and sensitivity. Monique Harris

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2023
It's a big summer for middle schooler Maggie: she is starting a braiding business with her best friend, Daija, and she will be meeting her half-sister, Callie, who is from the Bahamas, for the first time. Callie's mother recently passed away, and Callie will be moving in with Maggie's family in Jacksonville, Florida. While Maggie is welcoming to Callie, Daija is not so happy about this new sister, as she and Maggie are practically sisters. Protective of her friendship and their new braiding enterprise, Daija is not interested in embracing Callie and is determined not to be replaced by a stranger. However, Callie soon becomes the least of their worries as nemesis Angela and her crew decide to open a competing braid business and start to steal their customers. Is it possible for the three girls to overcome their differences and insecurities and become sisters and friends? Drama between the Braid Girls and the Sistahs Who Braid heats up as the competition for business leads to a memorable climax. A summer crush for Maggie lends extra excitement. Told through the alternating points of view of the three girls, the story explores themes of friend and family relationships, grief, bullying, divorce, and parental absence, all handled with care and sensitivity.

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

May 1, 2023
A tween in Jacksonville, Florida, worries about changes in her closest friendship. Daija and Maggie are best friends, two Black girls with plans to turn their hair-braiding skills into a summer business. Things become complicated with the arrival of Maggie's new half sister, Callie; Callie's White mom had kept her existence a secret from Maggie's dad until just before her death. Maggie's close-knit family absorbs their new addition, but there's naturally some tension. Meanwhile, Daija desperately needs Braid Girls to succeed so she can afford private ballet lessons. The girls incorporate their braiding business into their duties as junior counselors at a local day camp and get off to a great start--until girls from another camp set up a rival business and try to steal their clients. This adversity, along with Daija's worries about money and her place in Maggie's life, creates a rift, revealing personality differences the friends had ignored. But they eventually realize their different ways of handling things can make them a stronger unit. In addition to the centrality of friendship in the lives of middle schoolers, the family connections are richly portrayed. Daija's drive to prove herself to her father, now remarried, is always on her mind; Maggie's need to play peacemaker is perceived as a weakness; and Callie puts on a brave face while mourning her mom. The story is told in the three girls' alternating voices, and the supporting adult characters add realistic texture. An enjoyable story with lively and engaging protagonists. (Fiction. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2023
Grades 4-7 Maggie has been best friends with Daija ever since she moved from her previous home in Japan. Daija and Maggie just click, and they're so close that they don't really need any other friends. But when Maggie discovers that her father has another daughter, named Callie, and that Callie is going to have to come live with her family, she has mixed feelings. Daija's feelings, however, aren't mixed at all: she doesn't trust Maggie's new sister, and she definitely doesn't like having to share her best friend. When the three girls start a hair-braiding business together, they find that they must navigate the ups and downs of friendship, family, and rivalries. Winston's newest novel explores a variety of different family dynamics within the Black community. It is easy to delineate between the girls, who all serve as narrators, as they each have distinct voices. This book celebrates the empowerment of young Black girls across all walks of life.

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