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.

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.