AUTHOR
ROSA M. ROMERO
Welcome fellow bookworms! I am a daughter, aunt/tía, teacher, writer, author, picture book fanatic, friend, dog mom and much more. As a writer, I write stories with characters that all children can relate to. Growing up, I noticed a lack of multicultural children's literature with story characters that looked like me or people I knew... so now I am writing them so other children can relate to them. I have recently published my debut children's book! I Wear Long Hair... also available in Spanish Tengo mi cabello largo. This is just the beginning for me. Join me on this amazing journey!
I WEAR LONG HAIR (ENGLISH VERSION)
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Asher has always had long hair, he loves his long hair so much and would never cut it. Asher notices that the only other students in his class with long hair are girls! Asher is starting to wonder if boys should have long hair? Read to find out how Asher's family helps him feel happy, strong, and brave to wear long hair!
TENGO MI CABELLO LARGO (SPANISH VERSION)
Asher siempre ha tenido el cabello largo. Ama tanto su cabello largo y nunca se lo cortaría. ¡Asher se da cuenta de que los únicos otros estudiantes en su clase con cabello largo son niñas! Asher comienza a preguntarse si los niños deberían tener el pelo largo. ¡Lea para descubrir cómo la familia de Asher lo ayuda a sentirse feliz, fuerte y valiente por tener el cabello largo!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rosa grew up in the Washington D.C. area and now lives in Greenbelt, Maryland with her dog Benito. Her parents are from El Salvador. She is an elementary school teacher in Maryland. She earned her Master of Education degree in Reading Education with a reading specialist certification from Loyola University Maryland. Her favorite part about teaching is seeing how excited her students get when it is read-aloud time! Rosa and her students enjoy discussing what makes a book special. This influenced Rosa to share her student's favorite books on her Instagram @Msromerosbookshelf. She found that her students enjoy reading stories that have characters that look like them and they can relate to. Rosa uses her social media platforms to share multicultural and diverse books all children can relate to.
INSPIRATION FOR THE BOOK
I Wear Long Hair/ Tengo el cabello largo was inspired by Rosa’s handsome nephew, Asher. Asher is Jamaican and Salvadoran American. As a young boy, Asher had long beautiful curly hair. He enjoyed showing off his hair after his Tía Rosa would braid it. At times, Asher felt shy or sometimes scared! His hair helped him feel strong, brave, and different... but in a good way!
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Chelsea McLin is a DMV (Washington D.C./Maryland/Virginia) based author and illustrator. She wrote and illustrated her children's books Homegoing: A children's book about grief and B is For Beautiful Black Hair. She has also written a young adult short story called FLOAT, which is published at Voyage YA by Uncharted. She also created an e-journal called 2022 Read it. Write it. where readers can log their book memories. She owns an online "bookplace" called Jubilee Books that consists of a great selection of multicultural and diverse literature recommendations clothing apparel.
I WEAR LONG HAIR ON RIF.ORG
Reading is Fundamental
Reading Is Fundamental is committed to a literate America by inspiring a passion for reading among all children, providing quality content to make an impact and engaging communities in the solution to give every child the fundamentals for success. As the nation’s largest children’s literacy non-profit, Reading Is Fundamental maximizes every contribution to ensure all children have the ability to read and succeed.
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“All children deserve to see story characters that look like them in the books they read.”
"Todos los niños merecen ver personajes de cuentos que se parezcan a ellos en los libros que leen."
-Rosa M. Romero
