Mama, I Want to Sing

By Vy Higginsen with Tonya Bolden
Based on Vy Higginsen’s hit gospel musical

From the Dust Jacket

Doris Winter’s life centers around Mt. Calvary Church, where her father is the preacher and her mother sings in the choir. When the Minister of Music asks Doris to join the adult choir—even though she is only eleven—she and her family are happy and proud.

Before his death, Doris’s father urges her to follow her dream, which is to sing. She feels herself drawn toward popular music, but her mother hates it, calling it “worldly music” Sneaking off to work at the famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem, Doris is dazzled by the excitement, the gleam of the lights, and the glamorous stars.

Doris and three friends form a singing group, The Halos, and enter a talent contest at the Apollo. As her love of music collides with her loyalty to her mother, Doris must find the courage to live by her convictions that all music is glorious.

»»  A New York Public Library “Book for the Teen Age”

Age 10-up | 183 pages
Hardcover | Scholastic | 1992  | ISBN: 0590442015 | MSRP: US$13.95
Paperback | POINT (Scholastic) | 1995 | ISBN: 0590442023 | MSRP: US$ 3.25