On Monday morning, Matthew A. Cherry announced his award-winning story “Hair Love” is now available as an audiobook.
The beloved story that features a father figuring out how to successfully style his daughter’s hair is narrated by 8-year-old Blue Ivy Carter, the eldest child of Beyoncé and Jay-Z. The 4-minute tale is available everywhere audiobooks are sold, such as Audiobooks.com and Kobo.
At just 8, this narration is one of Carter’s slew of collaborations. She typically works with her parents and most recently was featured in her mom’s visual album spectacular, “Black is King.” This year, she became the youngest winner of a BET Award for singing on “Brown Skin Girl,” also featured in the film.
Carter voicing the “Hair Love” audiobook is a full-circle moment. She has been the subject of gross comments by adults about her appearance, particularly her hair. On a 2014 BET show, a host poked fun at then two-year-old Carter’s hair. A Change.org petition also once called on her parents to “comb her hair.” More recently, one writer from Vanity Fair and another from Harper’s magazine mocked Carter for looking like her father.
Like “Brown Skin Girl,” this next iteration of “Hair Love” will bring the due representation needed in children’s books. Carter’s own experiences, even as the child of arguably the most famous couple in the world, proves “Hair Love” is essential reading. As Gabrielle Union put in a tweet, “This is the gift that just keeps on giving!! Being able to hear Blue Ivy give voice to this masterful story is so awesome. They try to bury us, not knowing we are seeds of strength and beauty.”
To see where it all began, you can watch the animated short below.
