"When we can't get a single other coin into the
jar, we are going to take out all the money and go and buy a chair...A
wonderful, beautiful, fat, soft armchair." Rosa, her mother and
grandmother have lost their furniture and other possessions in a terrible house
fire. Neighbors and relatives kindly bring them items they can use but, as it
happens, nothing soft to sit on – only hard kitchen chairs. Thus it is with marvelous anticipation they save all her
mother’s tips from her work at The Blue Diner, all the coins Grandma saves in
grocery store bargains, and anything Rosa can plunk into the jar after she has
helped her mother at the diner. The day the chair comes home from the
department store is unforgettable; Rosa even gets to sit in it as it is carried
upstairs! Despite a lack of extra resources, this little family is very
rich in community and in love, the integrity of which is easily felt by
readers. Vibrant illustrations burst with color – lush blues, greens, oranges,
yellows and pink in riotous patterns – adding to the joyful energy. A Chair for My Mother by Vera B.
Williams is a gem of a story, enjoyed countless times by a wide audience since
its publication in 1982. Ages 4-8.
