The Beautiful Haircut

Sally Rippin

www.BillieBBrown.com

The
Beautiful
Haircut

By Sally Rippin
Illustrated by Aki Fukuoka

The Beautiful Haircut
published in 2010 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
85 High Street
Prahran, Victoria 3181, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without
the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.

A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia

Design and typeset by Stephanie Spartels

Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter
One

Billie B Brown has three
long-haired dolls, twelve
sparkly hairclips and
one pink comb. Do you
know what the B in
Billie B Brown stands for?

Beautiful.

Billie B Brown is
playing hairdressers today.
Hairdressers make people
look beautiful.

Jack is Billie’s best friend.
He lives next door.
Billie and Jack play
together every day.

If Jack wants to build a
cubby house, Billie helps
him. If Billie wants to play
soccer, Jack plays too.

But Jack doesn’t want to
play with Billie today.

‘Why don’t you want
me to do your hair?’
Billie asks. ‘I can make
you look beautiful.’

‘No, thanks,’ Jack frowns.

‘Why not?’ asks Billie.
‘I am a great hairdresser.
I can make anyone look
beautiful. Long hair,
short hair, boy, girl.’

Jack scrunches up his face.
‘I don’t want to look
beautiful, Billie. I want to
look cool. Can’t we play
something else?’

‘No, I want to play
hairdressers,’ Billie
says crossly. ‘If you
don’t want to play with
me you can go home.’

Jack stares at Billie.
Billie stares at Jack. Then
Jack stands up and walks
out of Billie’s bedroom.

Billie looks out her
bedroom window.
She sees Jack walk
outside into the garden.

There is a hole in the
fence between Jack’s
house and Billie’s house.
Jack squeezes through
the hole and runs home.

Billie feels very annoyed.
She and Jack always play
together! It was Billie’s
turn to choose the game
so she chose hairdressers.
Jack didn’t even try to
let Billie do his hair!

Billie knows Jack will
be back soon. They never
stay mad at each other
for long.

Anyway, Billie doesn’t
have time to worry
about Jack now. She is a
hairdresser, and she has
lots of customers!

Chapter
Two

Billie looks at her dolls.
They all have long hair.

‘I don’t need Jack to play
hairdressers,’ she says
to them. ‘I have you.
OK, who is next?’

Billie picks up a doll.
‘Claudia! Look at your
hair. It’s such a mess!
I will fix it for you.’

When Billie’s doll
Claudia was new, she
had lovely long hair.
Now it is like a yellow
bush. Long hair is very
difficult to look after.

You have to brush it
a lot. This can be a little
bit boring.

Billie puts some clips in
Claudia’s hair. ‘Mmm,
that’s better,’ Billie says.
Claudia looks beautiful.

Next it is Tomoko’s turn.
Tomoko has dark hair
just like Billie’s. Tomoko’s
hair used to be shiny
and smooth, but one
day Billie accidentally
dropped some glue in it.

Now one side is smooth
and one side is knotted.

Not to worry. Billie is
such a good hairdresser
that she can make any
hair look great. She puts
a sparkly clip into
Tomoko’s hair.
Yes, that’s
much better!

Billie’s last doll used to be
called Barbara but now
everyone calls her Stinky.
Stinky used to have
long ginger curls but
now they are just a
teensy bit green.

Billie left Stinky down in
the bottom of the garden
for three whole weeks.
Stinky is still beautiful
but now she is a little bit
mouldy and, well, a little
bit stinky.

Stinky looks very pretty
with sparkly hairclips in
her hair, doesn’t she?

The dolls are very good
customers. They sit very
still and they don’t talk.

Much better than Jack,
Billie thinks.

But soon Billie starts
to get bored. Billie is
a very good hairdresser,
but real hairdressers don’t
just put clips in hair.

They don’t just brush
and comb and smooth.

Real hairdressers cut.

Billie looks for her
purple plastic scissors in
her pencil case. Billie’s
scissors are very good at
cutting paper. She hopes
they will be good at
cutting hair, too.

Billie puts Claudia on
her special hairdressing
seat. She tries to cut
a little bit off the bottom
of Claudia’s hair.
But nothing happens.

She tries Tomoko next,
and then Stinky. But it’s
no good.

Billie’s plastic scissors
are good for cutting
paper, but terrible for
cutting hair.

Billie frowns. How can
she be a hairdresser if she
can’t even cut hair?

Then, Billie has an idea.

Chapter
Three

Billie goes into the
bathroom. She opens
up the drawer and sees a
shiny pair of scissors.

Billie is not allowed to
touch the kitchen scissors.
But these scissors are
different, Billie decides.
They are only little
scissors. Perfect for
giving little haircuts.

Billie thinks she is
probably allowed to
use these.

Billie picks up the
little scissors.
She hopes they will be
better than her purple
plastic ones. They look
very sharp. She decides
to test them out.

Billie holds up one of
her pigtails and gives a
little snip.

Oh yes, they are very
sharp. Billie’s pigtail falls
into the sink! It lies there
looking like a little
furry mouse.

Oh dear. Billie looks
in the mirror. Now she
only has one pigtail.

Billie doesn’t look
beautiful at all. In fact,
she looks silly! She can’t
walk around with just
one pigtail. Everyone
will laugh at her!

So Billie snips off the
other pigtail. Now both
sides look the same.

Two little pigtails lie
in the sink.

Billie is amazed at how
easily they came off.
She wishes she could
stick them back on again.
Billie liked her two pigtails.
Now she has none!

Billie looks in the mirror.
Tears roll down her
cheeks. She wishes she
had never found those
horrible sharp scissors!

She wishes she had her
two little pigtails back!
She stares at her funny
haircut and tries to
stop crying.

Just then, Billie sees
someone else in the
mirror. It’s Jack!

‘Billie! What have you
done?’ says Jack.

His eyes are as big as
tennis balls. ‘You cut off
your pigtails!’

Billie covers her hair
with her hands. ‘Don’t
tell Mum!’ she pleads.
‘I’m going to be in so
much trouble!’

‘But what are you
going to do?’ asks Jack.
‘You can’t hide your
hair forever!’

‘I’ll wear a hat!’ says Billie.
‘Until it grows back.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ Jack says.
‘You have to tell your
mum. She’ll know what
to do.’

Billie hangs her head.
She knows that Jack
is right. She feels very
nervous. But with Jack
beside her, it’s not so bad.

They walk into the
kitchen to find Billie’s
mum.

Chapter
Four

Billie’s mum is sitting at
the table reading the paper.
She looks up as Billie and
Jack come into the room.
‘Oh, Billie!’ she gasps.
‘What have you done?’

Billie scrunches up
her face. She covers her
eyes with her hands.
Then she starts to cry.

‘I was playing
hairdressers,’ she sobs.

Billie’s mum stands
up and pulls Billie into
a hug. ‘My silly Billie,’
she sighs. She ruffles
Billie’s funny hair.

‘You’re not cross?’ Billie
asks. She looks up at her
mum with wet eyes.

‘Well, yes, a little bit,’
Billie’s mum frowns.
‘You know you’re not
allowed to play with
scissors!’

‘I know,’ says Billie glumly.
‘I’m sorry.’

But then Billie’s mum
gives a small smile. ‘Do you
know what?’ she says.

‘When I was a little
girl I did exactly the
same thing.’ She gives
Billie a squeeze.

‘Really?’ Billie asks,
amazed. ‘You cut off
your pigtails?’

‘Yep. Except I looked
much worse than you,’
Billie’s mum laughs.

‘My hair was sticking
up everywhere! You’ve
still got plenty of hair left.
But it looks like we’ll
have to take you to a real
hairdresser, hey?’

‘I miss my pigtails,’
Billie sighs.

‘Don’t worry,’ Billie’s
mum says.

‘Glenda will give you a
great haircut. She can
make anyone look
beautiful!’

‘Can she do cool
haircuts, too?’ Jack asks.

‘You bet,’ says Billie’s mum.

‘Great!’ says Jack.
‘Then I’ll ask mum if
I can get one, too.’

‘Let’s go, then,’ says
Billie’s mum.

Billie hugs her mum.
Jack was right, she thinks.
Mum did know what to do.

The Beautiful Haircut

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