BIRDIE'S BEAUTY PARLOR / EL SALÓN DE BELLEZA DE BIRDIE

Birdie addresses readers with total assurance, instructing those who have similarly tired grandmothers to lay them on their beds with appropriate head support and then go to town. Byrd’s text gives Delgado lots of room to supply detail. “Look in her drawers and find these things,” Birdie announces, and the illustration depicts this small, pigtailed child bending over a drawer and slinging tweezers, lipstick, scarf, lotion, and more into the air. Then: “Dump all the stuff on the bed.” An aerial view depicts patient Grandma on her back and just the top of Birdie’s head as the aforementioned “stuff” is flung down, a bottle of talcum powder landing with a discernible puff. Birdie tweezes Grandma’s chin free of hairs; powders her face; applies eyeshadow (“Get it all over”), blush, and lipstick; lotions Grandma’s feet; and accessorizes Grandma with earrings and scarf: “Aren’t you beautiful, Grandma?” The brief text is laid out one step per double-page spread, and Delgado nails the small child’s exuberance in his smudgy, textured spreads. Stray dots of talc adorn Grandma’s chin, and the enthusiasm with which Birdie grabs Grandma’s lips to apply the lipstick may have some adults wincing. They won’t wince at the evident joy experienced by this loving pair. Both Birdie and her extremely patient grandmother have brown skin, and a dual English/Spanish text welcomes Latinx readers.

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