Nit-Pickin'

by Nancy Van Laan, George Booth (Illustrator)

I was scritcha-scratchin'
while a batch-a bugs
was hatchin',
yes, those cooties were
attachin' to my head.
When nits attack,
no one is safe --
and if the lice don't get you,
the cures surely will....

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2007

About the author

Nancy Van Laan was born in Baton Rouge, La. Her father was a colonel in the US Air Force, and the family moved frequently as Van Laan was growing up. She began making up stories to pass the time on long car trips. Although Van Laan had a learning disability, she loved to read. She began drawing and writing poetry as a child and enjoyed illustrating her own stories. Van Laan also loved ballet and began taking lessons at the age of nine. By age seventeen, she had her own ballet company in Birmingham that performed on a weekly program broadcast on Alabama Educational TV (now Alabama Public Television). Van Laan’s dancing career ended after an injury she sustained as a student at Sullins College in Bristol, Va. After completing her AA degree at Sullins, she enrolled at the University of Alabama, earning her BA in radio and television in 1961.

Van Laan moved to New York after college. She worked briefly at an advertising company and then joined ABC-TV where she worked as a network censor from 1962 to 1966. Van Laan began writing at this time and also studied art. After her first two children were born, she resigned from ABC and began painting professionally, creating murals for schools and private clients. She earned an MFA in theater from Rutgers University in 1979 and wrote two plays which were performed regionally. Van Laan moved to eastern Pennsylvania where she taught English at a private boarding school from 1984 to 1989. She also taught creative writing at Rutgers from 1986 to 1989. Van Laan published her first book, The Big Fat Worm, in 1987. Two years later, she left teaching to write full time. Since then, Van Laan has published over two dozen books. One of these, Rainbow Crow, was featured on the PBS television series Reading Rainbow. Van Laan lives and writes in Doylestown, Pa.

Reviews

[PacaLipstick Gramma]

To say this book was AWFUL would be an understatement.

Granted, it's supposed to be a cute and whimsical story about a little girl with head lice, but the story is appalling.

First of all, the grammar is atrocious. Talking like an uneducated idiot? It takes backwoods and hillbillies to a whole new level. That alone is offensive and degrading. Then to suggest that the lice are "cooties", and trying to get rid of them with mayonnaise, wrappng in your head with some bread concoction, or ~ GOD FORBID ~ KEROSENE???? The only one who had enough sense to use the shampoo was the dog???

I am recommending that my library take this offensive book off their shelves.

[Tricia]

while i do claim to have a sense of humor, i just couldn't relate to this book. it made me itch. the pictures are cute but the "country bumpkin" lingo didn't sit well with me. and why was the dog the only "family member" who realized that shampoo was the best way to clear up the hair bugs? i'm itching as i think about it.

[Megan]

Hahaha. Lice are funny!

[Cristina1961]

Just as the title says. You will be scratchin' you head after reading this one.

[Alice Gold]

silly book about headlice that takes hillbillies to a whole new horror. Could be good for a laugh and if you are desperate for some resource to talk to your kids about headlice.

[Carol Jen]

This is exactly what it says... a silly picture book about getting rid of lice ... I'm itchy now!

[Tina B]

"lice, nits, cooties, strong action in illustrations"