"A Chair for My Mother" Written by Vera B. Williams

This review is about the book "A Chair for My Mother" written by Vera B. Williams. This book actually made me cry while I was reading it. I have had this award winning Caldecott Medal of Honor book in my classroom library for years. I pulled it out just the other day while I was looking for a different book and decided to read it to myself. I couldn't believe how much this book moved me and touched my heart. I can't wait until my son is a little bit older and I can ready this book to him.

The Plot

The three main characters are the mother, a grandmother, and a daughter. The mother works at a diner as a waitress. The daughter helps out at the same diner after school. When they come home from work, they put all their coins that they earned from tip and put it in a big glass jar. The grandmother also puts her coins that she saved from sales and adds to the coin jar. The reason they are collecting coins in a jar is that they are saving up enough money to buy a big, comfortable chair that the mother could sit in after a hard day's work at the diner.

The reason they need this chair is that when they were living at their old house, their was a fire that destroyed everything. Luckily, no one was hurt in the fire but they were left with nothing and have to move into an empty apartment. Every one I the neighborhood was kind and generous and different people donated furniture, pots, curtains, stuffed animals, etc...to help furnish and provide for the family and their new apartment. The grandmother makes a touching speech thanking everyone in the in the neighborhood who helped by donating items for the family.

After months of saving and collecting coins, the jar was full. The three women went to the bank after rolling the coins in paper rolls and cashed in their savings. They ended up saving $10 worth of change. This would be enough to buy that comfortable chair the family has been wanting since the fire. After cashing the coins in the women went furniture shopping.

Conclusion

The three women wound up buying the perfect comfortable chair for their apartment. It cost exactly the right amount of money they had collected in coins from their daily tips from the diner. The mother uses the new chair to relax in when she comes home from a hard day's work. The grandmother sits in the new chair during the day and is able to look out the window onto her street. The daughter sits on her mother's lap at night and falls asleep in the new chair. By this point of the story, I was actually crying. I could feel my heart swell with love and all I could think about was my two year old son sitting on my lap. This is an unbelievable touching story. It doesn't surprise me that it has won the Caldecott Medal of Honor.

My Own Experience

I can relate to the three women in this story because I too collect spare coins. One time I collected enough spare coins that added up to $300. I took the money and put it in my son's savings account. One day I will teach him to do the same and hopefully he will put the money to good use. This is a great way to teach the value of money. Now when I collect spare coins, I let my son help me run them through the Coinstar machine at my local supermarket. This way he can see at an early age how spare coins are valuable too.