Vision of Beauty: The Story of Sarah Breedlove Walker

Genre: Biography
Media: pastels
Characterization: Sarah is a round and dynamic character. From the beginning of the book we see how Sarah develops and becomes an influential woman for black rights. She moves from having no hope to being a successful and powerful woman. She is introduced to us a young

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girl, yet we know what culture she comes from and what her ideals are.
Review: This is a great biography for kids to read. It includes details about Sarah's live, yet it makes them interesting and inspiring for young readers. It brings up important racial issues that kids will have to think about, but it does this in a non-aggressive method. It basically tells the story of Sarah's life, her struggles and her triumphs, therefore it is informative as well as interesting.

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This book takes you on a journey begging in Louisiana in the 1870's and ending in 1918. It is the story of Madam C J Walker and its great because its starts from a child's perspective and end with a grown African American woman who built an empire by mixing products to improve the state of African

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American hair. This is a great story of all sorts of demographics for children , girls, African American Children or any child. Its a great journey and its speaks frankly of the state of America and of beauty in the US at the time of Madam's C. J. Walker's life. She is the protagonist of the book and the students will learn a lout of details about the state of life for African Americans and Women at the times of the late 1800s to the early 1900's. This was a great read. I want to know more about Madam C.J. Walker.

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This is a ture story about Sarah Breedlove Walker, who was a slave and had a fairly rough life. She worked so hard and was so malnurished that her hair was short and brittle. She hated this very much and one day she came up with the idea to make her own hair products using ingredients from Africa,

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her homeland. She eventually opened up her own business where she not only made the most money a black woman could make back in that day, but wanted to shared and make black people proud of their type of hair in comparision to white people's hair. She was a rich, influential, black woman that wanted to inspire black people to rise above whatever situation they were in and be proud of who you are.

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Vision of Beauty is a beautifully illustrated book that covers a complex range of topics. I would feel comfortable reading this book to children from the age of 3 on up, boys and girls. The story is rooted in the point in time when the Civil war ends and where Reconstruction begins. It then goes

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into a wonderfully American story about hard work and Mme. Walker’s belief that successful people ought to do what they can to uplift and inspire their fellow man and woman. The author begins with a note explaining that she uses the word “colored”. I appreciated this note. You may feel it is necessary to start a dialog about acceptable an unacceptable words. Another theme in the story is hair. In the African American community “good hair” and “bad hair” are often used to talk about degrees of curliness, softer being “better”. Care is taken throughout the book to disassociate these terms. Mme. Walker did not approve of this characterization of black women having “bad hair”. She wanted all of us women to have healthy hair, be it curly or straight. The controversial nature of this topic even warrants a note from the illustrator on the final page. Nneka Bennett states her personal beliefs that, “Whether a woman straightens her hair or not, her beauty radiates from within.” Adding, “I prefer to see women wear heir hair in its healthiest form—naturally kinky, as I do.”

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Lasky's written biography of Madam C.J. Walker is an astonishing piece of work that chronicles Mrs. Walker's struggles and accomplishments. Her innovations in beauty care products had a positive influence on how African American women viewed themselves in terms of beauty. She established her own

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business called the Mme. C.J. Walkeer Manufacturing Company which sold cosmetic products. Being a business women, especially an African American business woman, was unheard of during this time period. Her contributions have been pivotal in the struggle for not just African Americans but women of all colors to be accepted by a white patriarchal society that made great leaps in order to confine women and other races to meager standards of living. I really appreciated what the illustrator says at the end, " Whether a woman straightens her hair or not, her beauty radiates from within." Those words echo my concept of the qualities of beauty. Beauty is truth.

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The author of this biographical book really empowers the reader to imagine what it must have been like to have lived after the civil war. Sarah Walker was born right after slavery was made illegal. Her parents were sharecroppers to their former slave owners. Her parents made it a priority to get

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their children educated. Sarah's parents died when she was young and she and her siblings had to fend for themselves. Sarah lived a very difficult existence during her young life. Due to malnutrition, her hair began to fall out In order to combat her hair fallout, she created a hair care system that made african american hair grow longer and faster. She created a very successful business that hired women to be representatives that sold the product. Her company became very lucrative.

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Great story of a woman who did things she wasn't supposed to do, ignored restrictive traditions, and became incredibly successful while helping other women do the same thing. Sarah Breedlove Walker created her own hair-strengthening tonics and defied the conventions of advertising, which glorified

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white women's hair and told black women their hair was "bad."

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This is the biography of Sara Breedlove Walker who was born into the poor, African American community of the cotton fields in the South right after slavery was abolished. From there she worked her way through life supporting her daughter's education and eventually developing her own hair products

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for women. She made her own business and eventually became one of the most wealthy African Americans in her time.

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