{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"A Black Girl And Her Braids","description":"In this uplifting episode, Jed welcomes Jaylene Clark Owens, author of the new picture book A Black Girl and Her Braids, inspired by her viral 2021 poem of the same name. Jaylene shares how the poem\u2014born while she was joyfully walking down Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles with fresh braids\u2014grew into a children\u2019s book published by Penguin Random House. The book celebrates Black girlhood, natural hair, and cultural pride, encouraging young readers to love their hair in all its styles: braids, afros, locs, twists, long, or short. Jaylene explains how the story also weaves in the CROWN Act, legislation designed to protect people from discrimination based on natural and protective hairstyles. She describes braids as more than a style: they\u2019re deeply rooted in Black culture, historically used to signify status, store seeds, and even map routes. Jaylene also opens up about her own journey\u2014being teased for her dark skin, feeling pressure to straighten her hair with damaging relaxers, and ultimately reclaiming and celebrating her natural beauty. She talks about the joy of seeing her poem go viral, celebrities like Tia Mowry using her sound, and the powerful experience of visiting schools, singing her \u201cA Black Girl and Her Braids\u201d song with children, and watching them light up as they celebrate their hair. In the final segment, we take a listen back to a conversation we had a few years back with Liz Leonard about her debut picture book Frizzy Lizzy, an autobiographical story about curly hair, self-acceptance, and navigating life in a nontraditional family. ","author_name":"Reading With Your Kids Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/readingwithyourkids.libsyn.com\/site","html":"