A Single Dreadlock

Written by Xaiver Michael Campbell

Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-938-8

32 pp.

Ages 3–6

September 2025 

 

For many, our hair, or lack thereof, can define us. If hair is present, it can be one of the first attributes by which people identify others: colour, length, texture, appearance. And when you're new to a community and your hair is unusual, it can unfortunately become the difference that separates rather than connects. Ask Lovie.

From A Single Dreadlock, written by Xaiver Michael Campbell, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes

As a young child in Jamaica with his dads and grandma, Lovie grew up feeling like he belonged. He looked like the other kids, and his grandmother would care for his hair every Sunday before bedtime. She would grease and comb and then style it whatever way he wanted. But then he and his dads move to Newfoundland, and no one, not even his fathers, know how to tame his curly hair. In the summer, his hair is free and full and playful, dreading in one spot only. Lovie likes that. But when he goes to school, a bully pulls at the one dreadlock and makes fun of Lovie's hair. Now, instead of appreciating all the loveliness of his hair, Lovie wants to hide the dreadlock and avoid the teasing. 

From A Single Dreadlock, written by Xaiver Michael Campbell, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes

When his grandmother comes for a surprise visit for Chanukkah, she reassures him that dreading is what their hair type does naturally, and that his strands are full of love. Loving the idea of his hair hugging itself in dreads, he's pleased when his grandmother gets out her hair grease and works on Lovie's hair, making perfect dreads. Proudly he displays them at school. When he's taunted once again, he tells the kids, "They're called dreadlocks, and I love them. And please don't touch my hair."(pg. 28)

From A Single Dreadlock, written by Xaiver Michael Campbell, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes

Lovie's story is Xaiver Michael Campbell's story. It's one of immigration from Jamaica to Newfoundland. It's one of fitting in to a new community and self-acceptance. It's one of heritage and family, of traditions and self-love. It's a big story about hair. You just wish young Lovie didn't need to endure any intolerance of his differences, but we can be thankful that he has a grandmother with such wisdom and love to help him see the joy of his hair. A writer of both fiction and non-fiction, A Single Dreadlock is Xaiver Michael Campbell's first children's book. And it is a deeply personal one because it is one that was lived. Still, Xaiver Michael Campbell's focus is on the joy that is his hair and the help he gets from his grandmother–as well as some generous aids–rather than the bullying. By placing the emphasis on Lovie rather than his unnamed bully, Xaiver Michael Campbell lets young readers see that Lovie and how he feels about his own hair is the story.

 

The joy of Lovie's life in Jamaica and in Newfoundland is depicted in Eugenie Fernandes's paintings (acrylic on watercolour paper). She emphasizes Jamaica's tropical nature and Newfoundland's temperate climate with shades of yellow and blue, but she always makes Lovie this beacon of happiness. Eugenie Fernandes has always been able to bring the warmth of goodness into her art work (e.g., When Rabbit Was a Lion, 2023, and Finding Lucy, 2019), showing children, or animals, finding the strength to be themselves, regardless of those who cannot accept differences. Between her choice of colours and the lushness of the lines she uses to create shapes, whether mangoes, water, or hair, Eugenie Fernandes makes us feel the warmth of place and people.

 

We all have something that makes us unique. It might be a single dreadlock, or a physical attribute, or a skill. But a difference does not need to isolate us. It can be a difference that bears strength and individuality rather than inequality. I hope that Xaiver Michael Campbell always celebrates his hair in whatever style he wants now.

A Likkle Miss Lou: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

Join children's author 

Nadia L. Hohn

for the launch of her newest picture book

A Likkle Miss Lou

How Jamaican Poet 

Louise Bennett Coverley Found Her Voice

Written by Nadia L. Hohn

Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes

Owlkids Books

978-1-77147-350-7

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

September 2019

on

Saturday, September 14, 2019

3-5 p.m.

at

A Different Booklist

779 Bathurst St.

Toronto, ON

There will be a reading, book signing and refreshments.

•••••••••••

From publisher Owlkids Books website at https://shop.owlkids.com/collections/new/products/a-likkle-miss-lou

Jamaican poet and entertainer Louise Bennett Coverley, better known as “Miss Lou,” played an instrumental role in popularizing Jamaican patois internationally. Through her art, Miss Lou helped pave the way for other poets and singers, like Bob Marley, to use patois in their work.

This picture book biography tells the story of Miss Lou’s early years, when she was a young girl who loved poetry but felt caught between writing “lines of words like tight cornrows” or words that beat “in time with her heart.” Despite criticism from one teacher, Louise finds a way to weave the influence of the music, voices, and rhythms of her surroundings into her poems.

A vibrant, colorful, and immersive look at an important figure in Jamaica’s cultural history, this is also a universal story of a child finding and trusting her own voice. End matter includes a glossary of Jamaican patois terms, a note about the author’s “own voice” perspective, and a brief biography of Miss Lou and her connection to Canada, where she spent 20 years of her life.  

Greetings, Leroy

Written by Itah Sadu

Illustrated by Alix Delinois

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-760-3

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

May 2017

Greetings, Leroy is one long email from a new Canadian boy named Roy to his friend Leroy in Jamaica, telling about his new life and first day at school.  But as the young boy tries to connect with his friend, missing so much of his Jamaican home, it becomes evident that his new life in Canada is already rich with Jamaican connections.

From Greetings, Leroy 

by Itah Sadu

illus. by Alix Delinois

Roy looks a little saddened sitting at his computer, trying to get a response from his friend Leroy, one of the many Roys on his soccer team.  There’s Iroy, Delroy, Uroy, Stedroy, Buckroy, Royson and, of course, Leroy.  With all the Roys back home in Jamaica, it’s no wonder Roy feels left out.  And it’s no wonder he’s nervous about the first day of school in Canada when his peer support system isn’t with him.  

But the day brings warm surprises of reminders of his Jamaican home, from his father playing Bob Marley and the Wailers, and their neighbour Ms. Muir giving him a Bob Marley button.  

I puffed out my chest big, big and grinned from ear to ear, because Bob Marley was Jamaican and I am Jamaican, too. (pg. 8)

At school, the principal has a picture of Bob Marley playing soccer and his new class greets him with “Welcome, Roy, one love” (pg. 13) channelling Marley’s song, “One Love.”  But when Roy realizes that he’s lost his Bob Marley button after showing it to the principal, it becomes a frantic search that ends happily, just as Roy’s email to Leroy does.

From Greetings, Leroy 

by Itah Sadu 

illus. by Alix Delinois

Storyteller Itah Sadu, much loved for her book Christopher, Please Clean Up Your Room (re-released in 2006 by Scholastic Canada) and known for her bookstore A Different Booklist in Toronto, creates effortlessly the voice of a young boy bridging two worlds: his former life in Jamaica and a new one in Canada. (Born in Canada but raised in Barbados and then returning to Canada, Itah Sadu would have first-hand knowledge.)  Greetings, Leroy is a story about moving and moving on, respectful of the two worlds from and into which Roy will grow.  Itah Sadu makes it clear that the two worlds are not separate entities but rather interconnected parts of Roy’s world, bringing him joy and memories and opportunities.  

Haitian-born artist Alix Delinois has already made a name for himself as the illustrator behind Muhammad Ali:  The People’s Champion (Walter Dean Myers, 2016), Eight Days: A Story of Haiti (Edwidge Danticat, 2010) and Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence (Gretchen Woelfle, 2014), all stories that celebrate Black culture and history. With Greetings, Leroy, Alix Delinois is able to apply his bold artwork to a similarly relevant story, though here focusing on a Jamaican boy’s new life in Canada, and honouring Itah Sadu’s story with pride and festivity for an old life lived and a new life’s promise.

As a story of immigration, of new experiences and first days at school, Greetings, Leroy may take many back to those uneasy days of newness but reminds us that, as Bob Marley sang, everything’s gonna be alright.  

From Greetings, Leroy 

by Itah Sadu 

illus. by Alix Delinois