Jennie McAlpine - I Don't Want Curly Hair CBeebies Bedtime Stories

Hello. I'm Jennie.

And as you can see, I've got curly hair.

And do you know what? I love it.

Tonight's Bedtime Story is about a little girl

who has curly red hair, just like me,

but she really doesn't like hers.

It's called I Don't Want Curly Hair,

and it was written and illustrated by Laura Ellen Anderson.

No! I do not want this big curly hair!

It's messy and silly and just plain unfair.

Just look at these spirals, these squiggles, these swirls!

Too bouncy! Too loopy! Oh, so many curls.

Always too knotty and fuzzy and frizzy.

They curl and they coil - it's making me dizzy!

I want my hair straight. I want my hair smooth.

I want it to flow through the air when I move.

So I use a big brush and brush it all night,

for hours and hours, with all of my might.

Next morning I'm frazzled. My brush hand is sore.

And my hair is more twisty and looped than before!

I ask all my best friends to pull it and stretch it.

But ouch! That's enough! It's no use. I will do it.

I try using big books to weigh down the curls,

but no, it does nothing to flatten these twirls!

Balloons! Ah, what a plan! They'll make my hair straight.

But hang on! What's happening?

Oh! Now it's too late!

I hunt down the stickiest tape I can find.

This has to help each of the curls to unwind.

But no! Each strand twizzles and wiggles and tangles

and sticks out around me at mad, crazy angles!

I wet it with water and...oh, my!

It's straight!

No Curly MacWhirlies, it simply is great!

But as my hair dries, I hear the first boing

as the curls all spring up with a ping and a doing!

It's useless. I give up, as nothing is working.

Behind every curl, there's another one lurking.

So I hang upside down in my favourite tree

wishing my curls would stop bothering me.

Then, snapping me out of my big sulky grump,

a girl stomps her way over and sits in a slump.

She says, "My hair's useless! Oh, why won't it curl?

"It's boring and straight. There's not even one twirl.

"I've tried twisting and spinning, and rolling pins, too.

"I want my hair lovely and big, just like you."

We grin and start laughing. How silly we've been,

with brushing and sticking and spins in between.

I suddenly feel like my curls aren't that bad.

In fact, now it turns out I'm feeling quite glad!

We spend the whole day with our bows and our clips

creating new styles and swapping top tips.

Pigtails and bunches, a beehive, a bun!

We have hours of fabulous, great hairy fun.

The winding, the turning, the twists everywhere -

no matter what shape or size, we love our hair.

So if we were all the same, life would be a bit dull, wouldn't it?

I love my curly hair, and I'm glad to say

that so did the little girl from tonight's Bedtime Story,

in the end.

Join me again for another Bedtime Story. Night-night.