Mama, I'll Give You the World

For one magical night, Luisa wants to make her single mother's worries disappear.

Every day after school Luisa goes to Walter's World of Beauty to watch her mama work-- cutting, coloring, and curling customer's hair, transforming them into the images of their dreams. Mama works hard and hardly ever smiles, but when she does, she is the prettiest flower in all the World. At the end of each day, she puts her tip money in a special envelopes for Luisa-- the envelope marked "college." She wants to give her daughter the world-- but Luisa has plans of her own. It's Mama's birthday and, for one night, she wants to make Mama smile... the way she smiles in an old photograph of her dancing at a place called Roseland. So Luisa transforms Walter's World of Beauty into Roseland, by decorating it with roses and collages of Mama's customers, who are also in on Luisa's secret. And it isn't long before everyone is happily dancing, especially Mama, who is the happiest of all.

Roni Schotter's many acclaimed books for children include The Boy Who Loved Words, Dreamland, Captain Snap and the Children of Vinegar Lane (a Parents' Choice Award winner) and Hanukkah! (recipient of the National Jewish Book Award). The author lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY.

S. Saelig Gallagher is the illustrator of numerous books for children, including Moonhorse by Mary Pope Osborne; The Selfish Giant, a fairy tale written by Oscar Wilde; The Firework-Maker's Daughter by Phillip Pullman; and Blue Willow by Pam Conrad.Susan Saelig Gallagher lives in San Diego, California.