A Chair for My Mother

Author: Vera B. Williams
Copyright Date: 1982
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Number of Pages: 32
Reading Level: Ages 5 & Up
Genre: Fiction, Picture Book

Summary
This is the story of a girl, her mom, and her Grandma. Her mom works as a waitress and sometimes she helps out. With the change she earns and the tips her mom makes, they save it and put it in a big jar. They're saving to buy a new, nice, comfy chair. They're saving for a new chair because their old house burned down, along with everything in it. After over a year of saving coin after coin after coin, the jar is finally full and they take it to the bank. They exchange the coin for bills and then go to the furniture store. After searching through the store, they found the perfect chair at last and had the perfect amount of money to buy it! They took the chair home and they all lived happily ever after.

The pictures in this book are very different, yet amazing. The colors are very bright and vibrant, which keeps your eyes drawn in to the book. Williams has a different style of illustrating but it's fantastic and unique compared to some. "A Chair for My Mother" is also a Caldecott Honor Book.

Reaction
I loved this book. I thought it was great that the daughter, at such a young age, learned to save money to buy something bigger. I think it's a great lesson that kids can learn, and along with learning a lesson it's a fun book to read!

Recommendations
I would recommend any parent read this book to their child. I also think it would be good for teachers to use in the classroom--it has a good lesson in it.

Problems/Conflicts
I didn't see any problems with it, but I could see how some people wouldn't like the fact that their entire house burned down. Not everyone wants little kids to hear and/or read about that.