A Chair for My Mother

Today we celebrate Mother’s Day, a time to remember all of the sacrifices and kindnesses of our mothers. As a body of stories, children’s books are probably kinder to fathers than mothers. But our Book-of-the-Day is about a memorable mother and a child who appreciates her.

Vera Williams grew up in a household where her mother had a full-time job. As a child, she often wished her mom stayed at home, like others in the neighborhood. But later when Vera herself became a working mother, she realized what a wonderful gift she had been given: not only shelter and food but also an example of a woman who balanced family and work. Fortunately, authors can write from their own experience or they can rewrite history, imagining a childhood they would have liked to have had. In the case of Vera Williams, she created Rosa, the daughter she wished she had been, to narrate A Chair for My Mother. She writes, “I now had the power, as a writer and an illustrator, to change the past into something I liked better and to make it as a kind of gift to my mother’s memory.”

In this beautiful example of a mother/daughter relationship, the little girl Rosa says, “My mother works as a waitress for the Blue Tile Diner.” A fire has left the family without any good furniture, particularly a sofa and comfortable chairs. And so all the tips that her mother makes, the coins that her grandmother saves when she gets a bargain, or anything Rosa can contribute go into a large glass jar. In the end, they go shopping and finally find a plump rose-covered chair that the girl and her mother can snuggle in together. Although the family is poor, they are very rich in community and in loving relationships. Hence each illustration in this book is framed with a lush border that indicates the rich emotional life these three women share with each other and with their neighbors.

Besides being a wonderful book to use with very young readers ages three through eight, parents enjoy the book just as much as children. A Chair for My Mother reminds us that we don’t have to wait until adulthood to thank our mothers; we can do that when we are children. That is why we have Mother’s Day—to remind us all to be thankful for everything our mothers do for us, every day of our lives.

Here’s a page from A Chair for My Mother: