Hair Love Reading Level: A Complete Guide

What Reading Level Is Hair Love?

Hair Love has a Lexile of AD480L. The “AD” stands for “Adult Directed” — a Lexile designation for picture books intended to be read aloud to children rather than read independently. This doesn’t mean the book is too hard; it means the experience of reading it together is the primary mode. The illustrations carry as much story as the words, and a significant part of what makes the book meaningful unfolds visually across the page spreads rather than through the text alone.

For parents wondering whether their child can read it independently: a child reading at a solid K–1 level, comfortable with basic sight words and simple sentence patterns, can work through the text. The Fountas & Pinnell Level J corresponds to roughly mid-first grade. The words themselves are not difficult; some of the hair terminology (kinks, coils, puffs, bantu knots, space buns) may be new to some readers, and those are exactly the right words to learn. For official Lexile and AR scores, visit Lexile.com or AR BookFinder. ReadingVine’s assessments are independent editorial judgments.

Is Hair Love a Read-Aloud or Independent Read?

This is primarily a read-aloud for ages 3–6 and an independent read for ages 5–7.

As a read-aloud, Hair Love is exceptional. The text has rhythm and warmth; Zuri’s voice is confident and playful; Daddy’s attempts to figure out the tutorials on his phone are depicted with exactly the right mix of determination and slapstick. It reads aloud in about seven to ten minutes depending on how much time you spend with the illustrations — and you should spend time with the illustrations. Harrison’s art carries layers that the text doesn’t speak directly: the reason Mommy is away, the significance of the occasion Zuri wants her hair done for, and the ending’s emotional weight all live in the pictures.

For independent reading, a child at a solid K–1 level can work through the text. The sentence patterns are clear and the vocabulary is mostly accessible, with hair-specific terms that reward learning rather than skipping. Many children who love the book will want to return to it on their own after first hearing it read aloud.

What Is Hair Love About?

Zuri loves her natural hair. It kinks and coils and curls every which way, and she knows it is beautiful — when Mommy does it, she feels like a superhero. But today Mommy is away, and Zuri has somewhere special to be. So it is up to Daddy.

Daddy is willing. He is loving. He is determined. He is also completely unprepared. He watches hair tutorials on his phone. He tries one style, then another. The results are not exactly what either of them had in mind. But he keeps trying, and Zuri keeps guiding him, and eventually — with patience and love and the right technique — he gets it right. The illustrations show Zuri in a beautiful updo decorated with beads, heading out the door with Daddy to visit Mommy.

The book’s text is simple and joyful; the emotional depth is carried by Harrison’s illustrations, which show quietly, in the final pages, that Mommy is in the hospital. The occasion Zuri wants to look special for is visiting her mother. Cherry has confirmed in interviews that Mommy has cancer; the book depicts this through Mommy’s head wrap and the hospital setting, but the text never says so directly. This is the right artistic choice — it allows the book to be simply a celebration of hair and father-daughter love for the youngest readers, while giving older children and adults a layer of meaning that makes the ending deeply moving.

Hair Love Characters

The three characters — Zuri, Daddy (Stephen), and Mommy — are a complete family portrait in 32 pages. Zuri is the narrator of her own joy: she knows her hair is beautiful, she knows exactly what she wants, and she has the patience and confidence to guide her willing but overwhelmed father through the process. Daddy is the book’s most affectionate figure — a big man with locs and tattoos who is completely undone by his daughter’s hair and completely committed to figuring it out anyway. The relationship between them is the book’s warmest quality: his love for her is entirely unambiguous, and his willingness to look foolish in service of making her happy is the picture book version of what good fathering looks like. Mommy appears in photographs and memories throughout, and in the hospital at the end — her presence underlies the whole story even when she is off the page.

Hair Love Themes and Lessons

Hair Love was created specifically to address a gap Cherry noticed: picture books featuring Black fathers and daughters were rare, and picture books celebrating natural Black hair were rarer still. The book is explicit about its purpose — Zuri’s hair is not a problem to be solved but a beauty to be celebrated, and the story is not about taming or changing it but about learning to honor it. The father-daughter dynamic is equally deliberate: Daddy is not bumbling and defeated; he is trying hard, loving deeply, and ultimately succeeding. The image of a Black father doing his daughter’s hair with care and determination was, Cherry has said, the image he wanted children to see and recognize.

Talking with your child: What does Zuri love about her hair? What are some of the hairstyles Daddy tries? When something is hard for you, how do you keep trying? What does Daddy do that shows how much he loves Zuri?

How Long Is Hair Love?

Hair Love is 32 pages with 432 words — a standard picture book length. Most adults can read it aloud in about seven to ten minutes, allowing time to look at each spread together. As an independent read for a child comfortable with K–1 level text, it takes about ten to fifteen minutes. It rewards re-reading: the illustrations reveal more each time, and children who know the ending bring a different emotional register to the earlier pages.

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About Matthew A. Cherry and Vashti Harrison

Matthew A. Cherry grew up in Chicago and spent eight years as a wide receiver in the NFL — playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers, and Baltimore Ravens — before retiring in 2007 and moving to Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking. He directed music videos, television, and short films before creating the animated short Hair Love in 2019, which was funded through a Kickstarter campaign that became one of the most successful animation crowdfunding projects in history. The animated short won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 2020 Oscar ceremony, where Cherry used his acceptance speech to call for a movie about Virgil Abloh and to speak about representation for Black families in children’s media. The picture book was published simultaneously with the short film’s release. He is currently developing the animated series Young Love, which expands the world of Hair Love into an ongoing story.

Vashti Harrison is one of the most celebrated illustrators working in children’s picture books today. She earned her BA from the University of Virginia and her MFA from CalArts, where she snuck into animation classes to study with Disney and Dreamworks animators. Her illustration style — characterized by rich, warm color palettes, flowing lines, and deeply expressive faces — has made her one of the most recognizable voices in picture books for young readers. She is the creator of the Little Leaders series and the illustrator of Lupita Nyong’o’s Sulwe. In 2024, she won the Caldecott Medal for her picture book Big — the highest honor in American picture book illustration. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.