Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith. Chronicle, 2022. 9781797205458. 192pp including two pages that show an overview of the process of making the comics from scripts through coloring.
“To the Black girls around the world,
you are seen,
and you are beautiful.”
— dedication at the front of the graphic novel
Wash Day Diaries is about the world and friendship of four young black women who love each other. Each of their narratives involves taking care of their hair (and sometimes each other’s). Kim is dealing with some unwanted attention from Malik and doesn’t seem interested in his apologies. She’s also getting ready to put on a show. She lives with Cookie, who is willing to drop everything to take care of others; in the course of the stories she braids Davene’s hair when she needs a little looking after, and even helps her Abuela, who wants to make amends for the way she’s treated Cookie. In the middle of it all is a text-based gossip session between the four while Nisha is at a salon having her hair done, as she relates the story of the love triangle she finds herself at the center of.
At the end of the book, everyone comes together to support Kim as she takes the stage. It’s a great ending to such a wonderfully developed, character-based graphic novel.
