Pistes d'exploration

Discuss what Luisa means when she says she wants to give Mama the world.

Consider the members of Luisa’s family. Do you have to be related to someone to be considered family? Why or why not?

Write a plan for something special for your mother. What special details will you include that you know she would enjoy?

Make a class list of all the adjectives that the author uses to describe clients' hair in the salon. Brainstorm some additional words.

Look in the text for words related to 1) hairdressing 2) celebration and 3) helping out. Sort them out in a graphic organizer. Practise using these words to describe people or events.

With a partner, plan an event (birthday party or other) for someone you like. What would you plan to do? Why would you do it this way?

Compare your relationship with your mother, and Luisa’s relationship with her mother. How are they the same or different?

The Quiet Place, My Mum, A Chair for My Mother, What a Party!

Mots-clés

Picture book , community , mothers and daughters , parties , resilience , single-parent families

Commentaire descriptif

In this tender story of a relationship between a single mother and her daughter, the language lovingly portrays Luisa’s after-school life at Mama’s workplace. Walter’s World of Beauty—the World for short—hosts a rich compendium of characters, and Luisa shares a birthday party secret with each one. “At six o’clock it’s time at last to go home. Luisa exchanges secret winks. . . . Then she and Mama hang up their smocks and empty their pockets, heavy with tip money. It all goes into a special envelope. ‘First things first,’ Mama says. She is saving for Luisa—for college. Mama wants Luisa to learn everything.” Funny illustrations border on caricature, without losing the characters’ humanity. Dense colours and shop details enrich “the World” setting. Whether reading solo, or being read to, children will love the spot images that depict Luisa tricking Mama into dressing up. The final spreads glow with warm colour, as Luisa and Mama’s friends have transformed the World into a dance hall—like the one in Mama’s photo at her work station. Readers of all ages will appreciate that even though Mama works hard to give Luisa the world, on this night, Luisa gives the World to Mama.