“It’s so very different,” she says. “I hated to leave. But we moved to Suffolk County which was a two-hour drive away.
McCloskey says that she hasn’t read Nappy Hair since the incident in Brooklyn.
She says that she has not read from it because it was written for an older audience of children, and since the incident she has been teaching kindergarten and first grade. McCloskey recalls how the book was a refreshing departure from so many of the other books that she had been reading to her students.
“I wanted to think out of the box and do something different. What attracted me to the book were the pictures and the awesome colors. The little girl was so happy and so excited. I wanted to be that girl. I felt that if I felt that way that about the book, the students were going to love it.”
McCloskey says she still regrets how her intentions were misinterpreted by the parent who read portions of the book out of context.
“Most of the parents in the class who knew me never felt I would do anything racist to hurt their children,” she said.
“To this day it’s just sad.”
Herron, the Nappy Hair author, heard about the controversy and came to McCloskey’s defense at the time. The two of them have done occasional speaking engagements together.
Even though McCloskey hasn’t read the book since the incident, she hasn’t totally abandoned it. Herron has asked her to consider writing a Nappy Hair workbook together. It’s a collaboration that McCloskey is excited about pursuing.
“I thought it was the greatest book ever,” she said.
Photo Courtesy of NaturallyCurly
