Wash Day Diaries

By Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith

A 2023 Alex Award Winner

A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner

From writer Jamila Rowser and artist Robyn Smith comes a captivating graphic novel love letter to the beauty and endurance of Black women, their friendships, and their hair.

Wash Day Diaries tells the story of four best friends—Kim, Tanisha, Davene, and Cookie—through five connected short story comics that follow these young women through the ups and downs of their daily lives in the Bronx.

The book takes its title from the wash day experience shared by Black women everywhere of setting aside all plans and responsibilities for a full day of washing, conditioning, and nourishing their hair. Each short story uses hair routines as a window into these four characters' everyday lives and how they care for each other.

Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith originally kickstarted their critically acclaimed, award-winning slice of life mini comic, Wash Day, inspired by Rowser's own wash day ritual and their shared desire to see more comics featuring the daily lived experiences of young Black women. Wash Day Diaries includes an updated, full color version of this original comic—which follows Kim, a 26-year-old woman living in the Bronx—as the book's first chapter and expands into a graphic novel with short stories about these vibrant and relatable new characters.

In expanding the story of Kim and her friends, the authors pay tribute to Black sisterhood through portraits of shared, yet deeply personal experiences of Black hair care. From self-care to spilling the tea at an hours-long salon appointment to healing family rifts, the stories are brought to life through beautifully drawn characters and different color palettes reflecting the mood in each story.

At times touching, quiet, triumphant, and laugh out loud funny, the stories of Wash Day Diaries pay a loving tribute to Black joy and the resilience of Black women.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chronicle Books Digital
• Release date: Jun 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781797205847

Jamila Rowser

Jamila Rowser is a Black, Puerto Rican, and Dominican award-winning writer who enjoys creating comics for Black women. She also publishes comics by and for women of color and non-binary people of color through Black Josei Press. Jamila was featured, along with Robyn Smith, in Adweek's 2021 Creative 100 as a creator to follow. Jamila lives in Miami but reps the Bronx. You can find her detangling her hair, reading manga, and doting on her two cats Sage and Sapphire.

Book preview

Cover: Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith

Text copyright © 2022 by Jamila Rowser.

Illustrations copyright © 2022 by Robyn Smith.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-7972-0545-8 (hc)

ISBN 978-7-7972-0584-7 (epub)

Design by Neil Egan.

Additional typesetting by Riza Cruz.

Chronicle books and gifts are available at special quantity discounts to corporations, professional associations, literacy programs, and other organizations. For details and discount information, please contact our premiums department at [e-mail] or at 1-800-759-0190.

Chronicle Books LLC

680 Second Street

San Francisco, California 94107

www.chroniclebooks.com

cONtENTS

Wash Day

Group Chat

Bright Side

La Bendición

Ride or Die

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CREDITS

PROCESS PAGES

To the Black girls around the world,

you are seen,

and you are beautiful.

WASH DAY

Reviews for Wash Day Diaries

[Elfreda Tetteh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was so good. I read it in one sitting and was smiling throughout.

[Jamila A. · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book. Great stories about real black and brown girls in NYC ???

[Candace Riley Harris · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a wonderful read! It reminded me so much of when I was a young lady trying to figure out what to do with my hair and relationships.

[Stevie Rose · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was super cute and sweet. A great concept. Read it in one sitting

[Mariah Duggins · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly loved this piece. It brought warm fuzzy home feelings. The relationships were lovable and relatable. My own friend group could of been the Guinea Pigs for this work and I think that was what made me fall in live.

[Joules · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this so much! The art, the colors, the love between these 4 friends. More please!

[Marianne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it! The art is gorgeous, I love the color palette and how they use watercolor for the flashbacks. The story was beautifully written too!

[Maria Rahman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really really love it.?? It's a slice of life story about four friends. Their bonding and the way they support each other are really admirable.
And the character 'cookie', I love her. ?

[Radwa Ali · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed it .. but I wasn’t ready for it to be over yet ugh .. loved ittt

[Danya Knowles · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

PERFECTION! I wish I could give it more stars. I was smiling from beginning to end with this comic. This was so amazing to see black life and especially black female friendships. I want so much more of this!

[Breanna Miele · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely LOVED this!! I particularly enjoyed the colors. My only complaint is that it needed to be longer - but hopefully this becomes a series because I would read about these women again and again!

[dragon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved it! It was such a sweet and relatable graphic!

[Andrea Arnold · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love it! It's fantastic ? i read it 10 minutes maybe :(

[Maria · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 ⭐
Very easy to read. Simple and fun, perfect for when ur bored on tiktok

[Dresden Young · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really loved this! I loved the art, I loved the palpable love and sisterhood. I really enjoyed the whole thing!

[Maya · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was really cute and, as a 32 year old Black women I found this to be relatable.

[Charity Matlala · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was such a wonderful read. I loved the friendship element of the book and the mention and handling of mental health illnesses

[electrascaife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This graphic novel gives us a snapshot of the lives of a group of black girl friends, all with their own struggles and joys, and it’s focused around the time and love and bonding that goes along with their hair care regimes.
Roswer and Smith do a good job creating interesting and deep characters and fleshing out their lives and stories in a short amount of time and pages. A good story and artwork to match.

[Sara Lilla Pete · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The art is beautiful and the story filled me with so much joy, love and happiness. Pure sisterhood!

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love that this book exists, even if it doesn't speak to me directly. I wanted more of each story, and it's great about tackling big emotions.

[mktoronto · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The artwork was beautiful. I just wasn't the audience for this. I'm glad it exists so that black women can see their everyday portrayed like this but I couldn't relate to any of it. I couldn't connect to any of the characters, and that's on me.

[bookmuse56 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is balm for the soul.

Times are fraught and I needed a break from the bombardment of the news and this book was just what I needed to lift my spirits and recharge me to go forth.

Wash Day Diaries. a refreshingly uplifting graphic novel, is a story of four Black friends that illustrates the power of friendship, self-care, and the necessity of having “ride-or-die” support group.

Every Black woman has their own wash day/hair routines no matter how they chose to wear their hair and the importance of this self-care routine in their lives, whether it is maintained by themselves and/or others in the lives/community.

The five short chapters , each focusing on a different character deftly gives each character their own point of view without losing the sight of the novel’s central theme.

The trust, respect, and genuine caring for each other comes through their actions is done with dignity.

I so enjoyed how the subtle strength of the language which was spun into beautiful images.

This tribute to Black women is magnetic and good-hearted.

I definitely am looking forward to future work by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith.

#WashDayDiaries

[villemezbrown · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Some gentle slice-of-life stories about hair, love, and friendship with a group of four Black women. I liked all the insight into the intricacies of hair care, and the rest was pretty good too.

If you enjoy this, be sure to check out Hot Comb by Ebony Flowers.

[koralis-426659 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Books I get from netgalley are either a hit or a miss. Wash Day Diaries was immaculate though. I loved every page in this! First off the artwork was amazing, lved the color scheme. The plot was simple but I enjoyed the friendship dynamic between the women. All four women are different but they also mesh together real well. I would love ride or die friends like these. I can't wait to see what else Jamila Rowser comes out with!

-

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[bibliovermis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A hilarious comic about the realistic, funny, vibrant friendship between four young women.

[bumblybee-190414 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This graphic novel exemplifies why I enjoy the genre. The artwork is phenomenal, the stories are well-paced, and the characters are distinct and feel real. There was clearly a lot of love put into each of the stories and characters, and it shows on the page. My only complaint is that I want more! I do hope Rowser and Smith decide to do a follow-up, because I would love to see these characters and their shenanigans again. This is definitely going on my list of graphic novels to buy when I have the money to spend.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

*reviewed from uncorrected eARC*

teen/adult graphic fiction - a lovely ode to Black hair beauty and body positivity, and female friends (het and pan) whom you can count on to help you through relationship issues and other life situations. Contains partial nudity.