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Ang Pambihirang Buhok Ni Lola
Paperback binding. Bilingual English/Tagalog Do you know why Filipinas are strong women? Because they all came from Lola, who not only had extraordinary hair but also, extraordinary courage!
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Rene O. Villanueva
100 books109 followersRene O. Villanueva (September 1954–December 2007) was a Filipino Dramatist and Children's Story Writer who made his mark in Philippine Literature in the late 1970s and well into the first decade of the 21st century. He had a remarkable contribution to Filipino culture as shown in his prolific output which generates continuing interest in his plays and books for young people.
Villanueva was born in La Loma, Quezon City and studied in public schools, the Lyceum of the Philippines, and the University of the Philippines. As a young person, he already had the inclination to the arts, telling stories to playmates and winning in national school writing contests. In college, he was active in the theater as a writer and as a performer. Later when he got into the writing workshop circuit, he joined the literary group Galian sa Arte at Tula (GAT) to learn from veteran writers.
In a children's literature workshop, he stood out as a fellow, and critic National Artist Virgilio S. Almario recognized his writerly gifts. His drama auspiciously began in 1978 with "Entreswelo" and "Pag-ibig ni Mariang Makiling" which won an award in the playwriting workshop, Palihang Aurelio Tolentino. Then in 1980, he won his first Palanca Award with the one-act play "Kumbersasyon" and from then on his pen did not falter a beat. He came out with memorable dramatic works like "May Isang Sundalo"(1981), "Sigwa" (1984), "Botong" (1990), "Kalantiaw" (1994), "Dobol" (1994) and "Watawat" (1999).
Villanueva's stories for children garnered prestigious prizes, including Palanca Award-winning works like "Bertdey ni Guido" (1989), "Ang Unang Baboy sa Langit" (1990), "Tungkung Langit at Alunsina"(1990), "Nemo, Ang Batang Papel" (1992), and "Tatlong Ungas" (1999).
For his pioneering contribution to local children's literature, Villanueva was nominated by the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) to the 2002 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Children's Writer, the most prestigious international recognition in the field of writing for children. He is the first Filipino writer to have been nominated to the award.
His indomitable spirit as a writer, teacher and cultural worker found him travelling all over the country to share his views on children's welfare, creative writing, curriculum enrichment, and teaching materials development.
Villanueva was born in La Loma, Quezon City and studied in public schools, the Lyceum of the Philippines, and the University of the Philippines. As a young person, he already had the inclination to the arts, telling stories to playmates and winning in national school writing contests. In college, he was active in the theater as a writer and as a performer. Later when he got into the writing workshop circuit, he joined the literary group Galian sa Arte at Tula (GAT) to learn from veteran writers.
In a children's literature workshop, he stood out as a fellow, and critic National Artist Virgilio S. Almario recognized his writerly gifts. His drama auspiciously began in 1978 with "Entreswelo" and "Pag-ibig ni Mariang Makiling" which won an award in the playwriting workshop, Palihang Aurelio Tolentino. Then in 1980, he won his first Palanca Award with the one-act play "Kumbersasyon" and from then on his pen did not falter a beat. He came out with memorable dramatic works like "May Isang Sundalo"(1981), "Sigwa" (1984), "Botong" (1990), "Kalantiaw" (1994), "Dobol" (1994) and "Watawat" (1999).
Villanueva's stories for children garnered prestigious prizes, including Palanca Award-winning works like "Bertdey ni Guido" (1989), "Ang Unang Baboy sa Langit" (1990), "Tungkung Langit at Alunsina"(1990), "Nemo, Ang Batang Papel" (1992), and "Tatlong Ungas" (1999).
For his pioneering contribution to local children's literature, Villanueva was nominated by the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) to the 2002 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Children's Writer, the most prestigious international recognition in the field of writing for children. He is the first Filipino writer to have been nominated to the award.
His indomitable spirit as a writer, teacher and cultural worker found him travelling all over the country to share his views on children's welfare, creative writing, curriculum enrichment, and teaching materials development.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
October 21, 2013
Maybe I missed the whole point. The intro to the book says that this story is written by Villanueva to give tribute to the great women of the country. Remarkable women who are the "true men" by the contributions that they've done in society. An example of this is President Cory Aquino who led the 1986's People Power Revolution that toppled the Marcos Regime.
The story is about an old grandma whose hair has not been cut since the day she was born. So, when the big typhoon visited the country, her long and strong hair kept the houses, people, animals, trees and others firmly on the ground by holding them. That's it. That's the whole story.
Does it hail the great Filipino women? Maybe but I do not remember Tandang Sora o Cory Aquino to have long hair like the grandma in the story. Does the long hair signify women or greatness in women? Maybe but some men have long hair. They are great because keeping long hair neat, clean and fresh-smelling takes a lot of efforts especially in the tropics.
But I just did not get the reason why some of the readers found this great earning this crazy story a 3, 4 or 5 stars. Strange folks.
The story is about an old grandma whose hair has not been cut since the day she was born. So, when the big typhoon visited the country, her long and strong hair kept the houses, people, animals, trees and others firmly on the ground by holding them. That's it. That's the whole story.
Does it hail the great Filipino women? Maybe but I do not remember Tandang Sora o Cory Aquino to have long hair like the grandma in the story. Does the long hair signify women or greatness in women? Maybe but some men have long hair. They are great because keeping long hair neat, clean and fresh-smelling takes a lot of efforts especially in the tropics.
But I just did not get the reason why some of the readers found this great earning this crazy story a 3, 4 or 5 stars. Strange folks.
February 17, 2020
Author Rene Villanueva and Illustrator Ibarra Crisostomo (2000). This is a tale that demonstrates the strength and the courage of the Filipina. It shows the inner strength of a woman and the important role she plays to her culture and land. Crisostomo uses beautiful illustrations and lots of color to depict the nature of the Philippines. We see Lola cooking in a bamboo hut, green plains, volcanos, pigs, goats, insects and so on. The first illustration begins with a portrait of Lola, a woman with extraordinary hair. Hair so long that it escapes out of the picture frame. Hair that takes up to one whole day to wash, one week to dry and 3 weeks to braid. As we learn of the beauty and strength of her hair a series of typhoons hit the barrio. “One by one trees would be uprooted. Every field, plain, river and forest would be destroyed.” While the typhoons destroy the land, Lola uses the strength of her hair and her inner warrior to tie it around houses in an attempt to help save the community. This is a great book to use when recognizing the important role of women, or when wanting to empower young women as it is vital that they see the strength in women, the strength within themself. National Book Award 2003.
July 23, 2013
badtrip
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 19, 2024
2024: Part of my 24 days of reading
2020: I wish I had lola.
2020: I wish I had lola.
October 16, 2020
The text, Ang Pambihirang buhok ni Lola-Lola’s Extraordinary Hair or, Why Pinays are Strong Women by Author Rene Villanueva, Illustrator Ibarra Crisostomo, Translator Ani Rosa S. Almario. It was originally published in the Philippines with a publication date of 2000 on the International Children Digital Library [ICDL] website. It is a bilingual Children's picture book written in Filipino/Tagalog, and English. The age search criteria for ICDL is ten to thirteen which is equivalent to 5th-8th grade.
Themes that stood out is the strength of Filipina women, their importance, and unselfish sacrifices to their community. Vocabulary includes words such as extraordinary, hair, length, braid, strength, thickness, typhoons.
The setting is the dominant feature along with Lola, told through colorful landscapes, with depictions of her environment (shells, flowers) being woven into her braids, symbolizing the integration of her environment and culture as being a huge part of the beauty she possesses. Her unselfishness character is shown by her willing to risk losing parts of her mane to save homes, the chapel, the town hall and even animals- hurricane after hurricane.
Illustrations of children’s hair, colorful clothing, and hair styles resembles their culture as they all chip in as a family to assist their grandmother with her hair, as she in return cooks and cares for them.
The story symbolizes Filipina women’s significance when in one of the illustrations, men fortified and tightened the nipa roofs, but it was Lola, not the men of the village or their work, that saved the village.
The author directly recognized the resiliency of Filipino women mentioning to pay attention to how strong they are in the face of any problem stating that some say, “The Pinay’s are the true men in the country.” I did not take this literally, but simply correlated it with the portrayal of men, in some cultures, with being the sole protector and women being portrayed as being emotional, needing men to help them solve problems-not Lola!
The text celebrates Filipina women and their culture. The voice, tone and mood of the text tells a tale of love and respect and celebrates their resiliency to “get through a storm” and their risk to lose their most prized possessions to save their community. And, if someone were to question if this strength applies to Filipino women with shorter hair, I would absolutely say yes, and tell them to look in the back of the book at the picture of the beautiful Filipino women with shoulder length hair.
Themes that stood out is the strength of Filipina women, their importance, and unselfish sacrifices to their community. Vocabulary includes words such as extraordinary, hair, length, braid, strength, thickness, typhoons.
The setting is the dominant feature along with Lola, told through colorful landscapes, with depictions of her environment (shells, flowers) being woven into her braids, symbolizing the integration of her environment and culture as being a huge part of the beauty she possesses. Her unselfishness character is shown by her willing to risk losing parts of her mane to save homes, the chapel, the town hall and even animals- hurricane after hurricane.
Illustrations of children’s hair, colorful clothing, and hair styles resembles their culture as they all chip in as a family to assist their grandmother with her hair, as she in return cooks and cares for them.
The story symbolizes Filipina women’s significance when in one of the illustrations, men fortified and tightened the nipa roofs, but it was Lola, not the men of the village or their work, that saved the village.
The author directly recognized the resiliency of Filipino women mentioning to pay attention to how strong they are in the face of any problem stating that some say, “The Pinay’s are the true men in the country.” I did not take this literally, but simply correlated it with the portrayal of men, in some cultures, with being the sole protector and women being portrayed as being emotional, needing men to help them solve problems-not Lola!
The text celebrates Filipina women and their culture. The voice, tone and mood of the text tells a tale of love and respect and celebrates their resiliency to “get through a storm” and their risk to lose their most prized possessions to save their community. And, if someone were to question if this strength applies to Filipino women with shorter hair, I would absolutely say yes, and tell them to look in the back of the book at the picture of the beautiful Filipino women with shoulder length hair.
October 8, 2021
Ang Pambihirang Buhok Ni Lola, or Lola's Extraordinary Hair in English, is a story from Philippines and is written in both Tagalog and English. The fable goes that Lola's hair is extraordinarily long and she is able to use the strength of her hair to save her village during a typhoon.
With language like "The Pinays are the true men in our country," and "She didn't like her eyes to go chinky from the tightness of the braids," there are some teaching moments to speak about gender stereotypes and racial slurs. Without these two lines, the story would be appropriate for all ages, showing off the country with beautiful illustrations.
This book is available virtually on the International Children's Digital Library.
With language like "The Pinays are the true men in our country," and "She didn't like her eyes to go chinky from the tightness of the braids," there are some teaching moments to speak about gender stereotypes and racial slurs. Without these two lines, the story would be appropriate for all ages, showing off the country with beautiful illustrations.
This book is available virtually on the International Children's Digital Library.
November 9, 2017
Read freely at: http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/...
September 4, 2019
The premise and that last line were both dealbreakers.
August 2, 2020
Women empowerment
Want to Read
October 22, 2020good storey
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
August 18, 2021Its good
October 13, 2021
The last line was xxxx
Want to Read
June 7, 2022vhthh
November 29, 2021
Ang pambihirang buhok ni Lola, or Lola’s Extraordinary Hair (Or Why Pinays are Strong Women) stood out to me on the International Children’s Digital Library because of the introduction that started the book. Like many international texts that become available for children outside of the country it was initially written for, Lola’s Extraordinary Hair is an example of Filipino Folklore (although the database lists it as historical fiction).
The story begins by describing Lola, how particular she is about her hair, and how truly amazing her hair was for everyone in the village, including details like it took a day to wash, a week to dry, and three weeks to braid (with the help of everyone in her barrio). When the neighbors heard news that a series of typhoons was going to hit their neighborhood, they started to prepare for the storms. Everyone reinforced their homes and stored food, but the storm was stronger than they anticipated and they feared their barrio would be destroyed. Lola showed tremendous strength when she asked everyone to tie her extraordinary hair to their homes, important buildings, and even to tie animals to her loose strands to protect them from the initial storm and the fifteen hurricanes that followed. The author ends by saying that the stories about Lola are true because her strength can be seen in every Filipino woman when she is faced with a crisis.
I appreciated this picture book because it had vibrant colors that were used throughout the text and drew the reader into the illustrations. I also noticed that many Filipino words remained in the translation, especially when they were describing items specific to the Filipino culture. Even though I had to look up words like sanicolas, galyetas, and pastilyas, I think that using the exact translation would have been less meaningful and would rob the book of cultural elements for the sake of translation. There was a missed opportunity to remove a derogatory term from the text during the translation (which surprised me given that it was published in 2000). I would likely use this book as a read aloud or mentor text in order to make sure that one detail does not become a distraction.
Since this book was about character strength, I think it would be a great text to use when talking about character traits. It also could be a mentor text during the revision process to help students “show, don’t tell,” with their writing. While Lola was clearly described as strong. There were also rich examples that explained more about Lola. Overall, it was an empowering text.
The story begins by describing Lola, how particular she is about her hair, and how truly amazing her hair was for everyone in the village, including details like it took a day to wash, a week to dry, and three weeks to braid (with the help of everyone in her barrio). When the neighbors heard news that a series of typhoons was going to hit their neighborhood, they started to prepare for the storms. Everyone reinforced their homes and stored food, but the storm was stronger than they anticipated and they feared their barrio would be destroyed. Lola showed tremendous strength when she asked everyone to tie her extraordinary hair to their homes, important buildings, and even to tie animals to her loose strands to protect them from the initial storm and the fifteen hurricanes that followed. The author ends by saying that the stories about Lola are true because her strength can be seen in every Filipino woman when she is faced with a crisis.
I appreciated this picture book because it had vibrant colors that were used throughout the text and drew the reader into the illustrations. I also noticed that many Filipino words remained in the translation, especially when they were describing items specific to the Filipino culture. Even though I had to look up words like sanicolas, galyetas, and pastilyas, I think that using the exact translation would have been less meaningful and would rob the book of cultural elements for the sake of translation. There was a missed opportunity to remove a derogatory term from the text during the translation (which surprised me given that it was published in 2000). I would likely use this book as a read aloud or mentor text in order to make sure that one detail does not become a distraction.
Since this book was about character strength, I think it would be a great text to use when talking about character traits. It also could be a mentor text during the revision process to help students “show, don’t tell,” with their writing. While Lola was clearly described as strong. There were also rich examples that explained more about Lola. Overall, it was an empowering text.
January 1, 2016
A great book to end 2015! A book that talks about the resilience of Filipinos, specifically women, by showcasing the extraordinary hair of lola. A great way to show and tell women empowerment couple with history in it. Beautifully illustrated that will truly leave a mark in the readers imagination.
September 15, 2009
لولا، أسطورة فلبينية الأصل
تختلف كل أوصافها في جميع الكتب
وتشترك في وصف واحد : شعرها الأسود الطويل
لولا رمز للمرأة الفلبينية القوية والشجاعة
:)عجبتني فكرة الأسطورة لكن الكتاب؟؟ ماعبرلي عنها أبد
تختلف كل أوصافها في جميع الكتب
وتشترك في وصف واحد : شعرها الأسود الطويل
لولا رمز للمرأة الفلبينية القوية والشجاعة
:)عجبتني فكرة الأسطورة لكن الكتاب؟؟ ماعبرلي عنها أبد
Read
November 27, 2012whatever
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 3, 2013
i reaad it sice I has grade 2 and its super great
Want to Read
March 12, 2014walas
Read
March 13, 2014asdfg
January 20, 2015
AWESOME!!!!
Read
January 29, 2017maganda
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews