Claire's Hair — Mary Evanson Bleckwehl

Claire's hair is red, long, and fantastically hilarious. Her best friend Albert thinks so too. They use it to jump rope; they swing through the jungle on it; they even use it to tie up the neighborhood ''robbers''--and you can bet there are a lot of those! The result is fun, frolicking laughter for the two BFFs. But Claire's hair is also wild, tangled, dirty (she hasn't washed it since June!), and just plain crazy. Mothers don't care for that and Claire's is no exception.

When Albert gets sick and goes to the hospital, Claire misses him and the laughter. Once he comes home, he looks sad. Claire performs ''hair tricks'' to cheer him but nothing works. When she discovers he lost his hair from medicine he had to take, Claire gets a BIG hairy idea. She knows about donating hair for those who need it and heads to the salon to have hers cut. She donates half of it and brings the other half to Albert, who uses it in ways that make him laugh again.

So it's true. Laughter is the best medicine!