Author, illustrator – David Shannon can make any topic cute and adorable! The cover of this 2013 book (11.5″ X 9″) has a rumbled insect looking out at the reader from what might be a bunch of shredded carrots, if only the title were not Bugs in my Hair!  It is still cute.

It all begins when “One day, my mom made a terrible, awful discovery… Head Lice!” Shannon’s over dramatic illustrations lighten-up the topic of what is often a common childhood maledy – head lice.  Oh the itching, the blood sucking, “the humiliation”, and the not knowing exactly where the lice came from.  A few ‘treatments’ are comically illustrated [child with his entire head looking out from inside a mayonnaise jar] while mom researches for “battle-tested anti-lice weapons.” Finally, the lice are gone. BUT they come back. And “so we went through the whole thing again…”    Closing illustration of a child’s head inside a knight’s helmet is captioned, “I’m not taking any chances!”

The reader comes away with the idea that “Lice-a-palooza” are not the end of the world, but it is a relief when they are gone.