Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes and Friendship

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. From the publisher - How can Irene and Charles work together on their fifth grade poetry project? They don't know each other . . . and they're not sure they want to. Irene Latham, who is white, and Charles Waters, who is black, use this fictional setup to delve into different experiences of race in a relatable way, exploring such topics as hair, hobbies, and family dinners. Accompanied by artwork from acclaimed illustrators Sean Qualls and Selina Alko (of The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage), this remarkable collaboration invites readers of all ages to join the dialogue by putting their own words to their experiences.

This is a tough book with many very current scary subjects going on re racism in America. It annoyed me that it was presented as poetry as writing long sentences and breaking them into stanzas "does not a poem make". IMHO. I really doubt that a fifth grader would get the concepts behind this book --- it presents Irene as a vapid twit and Charles as a victim of every stereotype and news story of being black in America. Maybe for an older grade but my 11 yr old nephew read it and he didn't "get it" at all.