Review by Booklist Review
In alternating spreads containing lyrical verses, a young girl and her mother consider the child leaving home to attend school. Wishing to remain, the child worries about Mama's rough hands and blistered feet. Mama asks her daughter to accept the books and shoes she has struggled to buy, so that she will one day escape Mama's job picking coffee beans for 10 cents a pound. The child is also concerned about Mama's aching back and strained eyes; Mama gives her a backpack and writing supplies, instructing her to learn and tell their story. At last the girl accepts Mama's perspective, promising to return for a visit. Tran-Davies' succinct and elegant text conveys heartfelt emotions. Mama may not escape her own lot in life, but her daughter will have alternatives. Bisaillon's mixed-media illustrations employ simple shapes, patterns, and textures and an earth-toned palette to depict the mountainous coffee plantation and rural village where the two live. This celebration of the mother-child bond is sure to spark discussions of childhood poverty.--Weisman, Kay Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-This beautifully written story set in an unnamed Asian country has a poetic quality that matches its tender tone. The young girl dreams of going to school but she is afraid to leave her mother, her village, and all that is familiar. Her mother works in the coffee fields and the girl worries about the woman's "coarsened and scratched" hands, her "calloused and blistered" feet, her back that "bends and stoops in pain," and her eyes that are "blurred and strained." Each time the girl mentions a reason she must stay her mother repeats the phrase, "Ten cents a pound is what I'll earn." The illustrations are wonderful and enhance the theme. There is a realism in the artwork, but also a bit of whimsy as butterflies fly and flowers that bloom whenever the child opens a book or dreams about her future. VERDICT A touching lesson about parental love, sacrifice, the importance of education, and overcoming obstacles to create a better future.-Peggy Henderson Murphy, Wyandot Elementary School, Dublin, OH © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Poetic text alternates between a worried daughter's remarks to her mother ("I see your hands, / Coarsened and scratched... I will stay with you") and hard-at-work Mama's clear-eyed responses ("Ten cents a pound is what I'll earn / To buy these books and set you free"). Set at a coffee field, the collage-like art finds the rumpled beauty in Mama's sacrifice. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
