A Chair for My Mother

APA Bibliography: Williams, V. B. (1982). A Chair for My Mother. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

Readability Lexile: 530L

Book Information: https://www.harpercollins.com/9780688009144/a-chair-for-my-mother/

Online Read-Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Onfbx6v3g

Genre: Juvenile Fiction, Children's Picture Book, Bilingual

Author Information: https://www.harpercollins.com/author/cr-100629/vera-b-williams/

Summary: A Chair for My Mother is about Rosa, her mother, and grandmother. They lost their home due to a fire. They moved to an apartment and their neighbors brought them food and other things for their house, but the one thing they didn't have was a chair. They all started collecting coins from the diner where Rosa's mother worked. When the jar was full, they were able to buy the chair of their dreams. 

Target Audience: The target audience is children ages 4-8 years old. I think children will like this book because the pictures in the books are very detailed and the Vera Williams made sure to draw everything that she had written about. The wording in the book is easy to understand and the children will have an understanding as to what the author is trying to say. 

Evaluation: I really liked this book for a number of reasons. First, it depicted an event that could happen to just about anyone in real life and how that might change everything for the family. Second, the book talked about how important it is to share. Rosa and her family lost everything they had, but their new neighbors gave them whatever to could. Last, but not least, the book talked about how the importance of saving up and every little bit helps. When the whole family works together, you can accomplish anything. 

Reader Response Activity: An activity that you can do with your children is to have a discussion about what would happen if their family had a terrible incident occur, like a fire. You can ask questions like, "How would you work together with your family to get your life together again?" This will get them to think critically about what they would do. You can also talk about their one favorite thing in the house and what they would do if they didn't have it anymore. This story also references Goldilocks from "The Three Bears." You can also take a moment to quickly let your children summarize the short story.