Sparkle

By: Lakita Wilson

Narrated by: Tyla Collier

After twelve-year-old aspiring superstar, Sparkle Moore, is diagnosed with alopecia, she must navigate family, friends, and her own self-esteem with the added challenge of losing her hair. Perfect for fans of Stand Up, Yumi Chung! and From the Desk of Zoe Washington.

Sparkle Moore is destined to be a star. Her mother is determined to turn her and her younger sister, Nova, into social media influencers and budding superstars. And after her dad has lost work as a sitcom actor, Sparkle wants to do whatever she can to help her family financially, too.

But at the onset of middle school, Sparkle begins losing her hair—first her lashes, then her eyebrows, and then small circular bald spots appear in various sections on her head. It’s hard enough having to go to school and hide her diagnosis from her friends—all while they’re trying out for big roles in the school play—but Sparkle quickly has to deal with weird medications, itchy wigs, and lost opportunities her mom has wrangled, including a big shampoo commercial.

Despite everything she might do to hide what’s happening, and all her work keeping her friends together, when Sparkle’s secrets start coming to the surface—Sparkle has to come to terms with the changes in her life and show her classmates and her family what she can do with or without hair.

Critic reviews

“Sparkle is an honest and uplifting portrayal of alopecia, and Lakita Wilson’s voice shines. Readers will relate to Sparkle’s desire to fit in and root for her on her journey to self-acceptance.” —Janae Marks, New York Times bestselling author of On Air with Zoe Washington

"A timely and relatable story about self-perception and social pressures." —Kirkus Reviews

"Using emotionally turbulent and candid prose, Wilson delivers a heartfelt narrative about personal growth in which Sparkle approaches each challenge with tenacity and drive." —Publishers Weekly

"Through Wilson’s characters, we see the range of challenges for a middle school girl dealing with devastating hair loss...[An] adept exploration of the definition of beauty for the middle-grade set." —Booklist

when she was losing her hair

I really like this book because it's like her acting career is beginning and her real life is ending because she is losing almost all of her hair and she feels like she needs to hide it from her friends