Expressing the Inner Wild: Tattoos, Piercings, Jewelry, and Other Body Art

Maybe you've noticed Kanye West's grill of gold and diamonds on his bottom teeth or admired Nicki Minaj's crazy wigs. But have you checked out Chris "The Duchess" Walton, a singer from Las Vegas, who has fingernails that are 20 feet (6 meters) long? Or Julia Gnuse, who is called the Illustrated Lady because her entire body is covered with tattoos? What about baseball player Covelli Loyce "Coco" Crisp? Have you seen the stud implant on his neck? All of this body art is pretty wild, but in fact, people have been decorating and modifying their bodies in fantastic ways for thousands of years. Cleopatra of ancient Egypt wore hair styles to rival those of Lady Gaga. The ancient Inca of South America decorated their nails with images of gods and eagles. Even English playwright William Shakespeare had a piercing! In Expressing the Inner Wild, you'll read about all the amazing ways people around the globe and across the centuries have been creatively transforming their hair, lips, fingers, toes, eyelashes, ears--just about any body part you can think of--with jewelry, makeup, inks, piercings, and other decorations. From African tribal body paint to ear plugs, tattoo pantyhose, and nail art for guys, you'll discover the sky's the limit!

Review :
"Body adornment and modification are well established markers of status, artistry, rebellion, and the sheer joy of ostentation, and this title reminds adolescent readers that even the most outré of contemporary styles has probably been bested in other times and cultures. Six chapters feature jewelry, hair, nails, makeup, tattoos, and piercing, first surveying twenty-first-century Western examples (think Nicki Minaj's wigs) and then comparing them with the faraway (e.g., the Miao of China have Long Horn hair wraps that emulate and honor water buffalo) and the long ago (for example, samurai topknots were originally designed to keep warrior's helmets from falling off). Discussion is neatly organized, but coverage never expands beyond brief observations into substantive explorations. Topics appear to be limited to body art that spans a significant time range, and thus scarification makes the cut (so to say), while other permanent modifications such as foot-binding and skull-shaping, which have passed into history, do not. Readers who get beyond browsing the striking color photographs will probably recognize that this slim volume isn't going to delve into the embellishment of human civilization, but it might lead to further reading on a newly whetted interest. An index and reading list, which careens wildly from gagamedia.net to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, are appended." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books --Journal "Cool tats, blinged-out nails, drag-queen makeup and more. Do teens know that the oldest tattooed mummy was a European who lived more than 5,000 years ago before being frozen into a glacier? Or that women and girls of the Miao Long Horn group in China wear their hair 2 feet wide and 8 inches high, while the Masai women of Eastern Africa shave their hair off? Gordon's all-too-brief yet informative account of the ways humans have decorated themselves throughout history tells it all--or as much as can be told in under 60 pages. Each section begins with a highly accessible connection to a current celebrity mainstay, such as Beyoncé, Katy Perry and Rihanna, then dives headfirst into the fascinating, multicultural history of each beauty trend. The narrative style is so succinct that readers will find they've already devoured a whole section of the book without even noticing, and full-color and black-and-white photos make the read all the more enticing. Readership will be wide--from preteen girls and boys on up through teens. Readers should know that Gordon explicitly points out that men throughout history have worn makeup and jewelry and have paid close attention to their hair. Great for research but better as a jumping-off block for youth who are interested in the cultural history of adornment." --Kirkus Reviews --Journal