Bugs in My Hair!

Toe-tapping music opens this production, followed by narrator Jesse Bernstein bellowing, "HEAD LICE!" The music and sound effects provide a dramatic backdrop as the young hero explains much about lice--where they come from and how to treat them. Bernstein is animated--his voice anguished at his initial realization of his condition, Dracula-like when he mentions that lice suck blood, reassuring and even factual when he shares the meanings of lice- related words such as "lousy" and "nit-picking." His use of emphasis works well to capture the emotional component of the lice episode--especially the reactions of the hero's mother and the other kids at school. Young listeners will appreciate both the humor and the factual information about this common childhood experience. A.R. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Starred review from July 1, 2013
Shannon offers young head lice victims and the grownups who love them a much-needed source of levity and empathy. His itchy redheaded hero can’t help imagining the worst—which is right up Shannon’s alley (his always expressive hand-lettering is deployed to especially good effect). What if the boy becomes a social pariah? What if his condition requires a scorched scalp policy? What if the “lice-a-palooza” in his hair (which looks more like a hootenanny than a rock festival) takes over the entire house? Shannon wisely allows these anxieties to vent, then calmly defuses them with epiphanies (“I found out a bunch of kids had them!”) and informative asides (“Relax. Dogs don’t get head lice”). He also underscores the idea that every lice-ridden kid has a secret weapon: mom (the book is dedicated to “moms everywhere and their battled-tested anti-lice weapons”). By book’s end, the lice have been whittled down from satanic scourge to manageable pain, and readers will come away reassured that it will take a lot more than a bunch of bug-eyed, multilegged “Little Nasties” to sink their families. Ages 4–8.