I'm reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

I'm even reading paragraphs OUTLOUD to my husband, and he's listening(!) He gets readings, you get readings.

The first day Francie came home from school and reported that she sat next to a girl who had bugs walking up and down the lanes of her hair, Katie went into action. She scrubbed Francie’s head with a cake of her course strong yellow scrubwoman’s sopa until her scalp tingled with rawness. the next morning, she dipped the hair brush into a bowl of kerosene oil, brushed Francie’s hari vigorously, braided it into braids so tight that the veins on Francie’s temples stuck out, instructed her to keep away from lighted gas jets and sent her off to school.

Chapter 20, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943)

My Mom’s favorite book growing up, and now one of mine.