9780061762413
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A Chair for My Mother audiobook

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A Chair for My Mother Audiobook Summary

This classic and award-winning picture book was written and illustrated by the celebrated Vera B. Williams and was named a Caldecott Honor Book by the American Library Association. “A tender knockout . . . it’s rare to find much vitality, spontaneity, and depth of feeling in such a simple, young book.”–Kirkus Reviews

After their home is destroyed by a fire, Rosa, her mother, and grandmother save their coins to buy a really comfortable chair for all to enjoy. A Chair for My Mother has sold more than a million copies and is an ideal choice for reading and sharing at home and in the classroom. “A superbly conceived picture book expressing the joyful spirit of a loving family.”–The Horn Book

Supports the Common Core State Standards

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A Chair for My Mother Audiobook Narrator

Martha Plimpton is the narrator of A Chair for My Mother audiobook that was written by Vera B. Williams

Martha Plimpton has starred in the films The Goonies and 200 Cigarettes among numerous others. A strong supporter of the theater, she donates her time and efforts to the “52nd Street Project,” a not-for-profit organization dedicated to matching inner-city children with professional theater artists to create original theater.

About the Author(s) of A Chair for My Mother

Vera B. Williams is the author of A Chair for My Mother

Subjects

The publisher of the A Chair for My Mother is Greenwillow Books. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Family, Juvenile Fiction, Multigenerational

Additional info

The publisher of the A Chair for My Mother is Greenwillow Books. The imprint is Greenwillow Books. It is supplied by Greenwillow Books. The ISBN-13 is 9780061762413.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Katie

October 24, 2009

Author Vera B. Williams does a wonderful job telling the tale of a young girl and her mother and their dedication to restoring their lives back to normal following a fire that burned all their possessions in their home. The idea of having your home and catch on fire and losing all your possessions is a fear that many of us have. It's a terrible circumstance that everyone can consider how they would handle and begin to rebuild their life after. This common fear and questioning make this book a perfect example of contemporary realistic fiction. "A Chair for My Mother" teaches readers lessons in hard work, empathy and appreciation throughout the story. The pages of this book are filled with bright, beautifully crafted illustrations, outlined by frames that connect one page to the next.This was one of my favorite books growing up and was thrilled to reconnect with it again!

Paige

September 09, 2016

1) This book is about a little girl that has been through a lot in her life so far. The house that her, her mother, and her grandmother lived in burnt up, and they lost everything. All of the neighbors were kind enough to bring them everything they could for their new apartment, however they still had no chair. Therefore, the mother and daughter collected a big jar and would fill it with coins everytime they got some, and everytime the mother would come home from work with money. The jar finally got full, and they went down the bank to cash it all in. Then they all went chair shopping and found the perfect chair, and now after all the hard work the mother can finally come home and relax after work.2) Age Level: 4-8 years old Grade level: Kindergarten-3rd grade3) Appropriate classroom use of this book could be used in a math lesson about money, or during a reading lesson4) Individual students who might benefit from this book might be a student who has gone through a fire before and knows what that is like, or someone that collects money in a jar or piggy bank just like they do in the book.5) Small group use of this book could be used as a math lesson and counting our own coins in a jar and grouping them together to see how many coins we have and what they add up to.6) Whole class use of this book could be used to teach the students that you have to work for what you have, and that hard work pays off in the end. This might even motivate them to save money in a jar.7) Related Books: The Nice Book, Those Shoes, & How Kind!8) There is an audible version available for purchase on Amazon, but there is also a YouTube video of someone reading it with the pictures.

Cortnee

February 10, 2016

Genre: Realistic FictionReading Level: Early Reader; Ages 3-8; 1st-3rd GradeThis book is filled with images of family and love, accompanied by pages of vivid color and detailed illustrations that truly captivate the eyes of young readers. In short, this book is about a mother, daughter, and grandmother who experience the loss of items due to a fire and how they work together as a family and community to pull the pieces of their lives back together. While this is a simple tale of love between family and community it has some very important themes for young children to understand and grasp. These include but are not limited to: Responsibility, Family, Community, Change, Money, Culture. Particularly, what I loved most about the book is how Vera B. Williams displayed the interconnectedness of different cultures working together to achieve a common goal, which reminds me of the old saying, "It takes a village..." I believe this book can be most appropriately used in the classroom when talking about a unit on community and working together. I also believe this is a wonderful book that I would read to my students at the beginning of the school year, as some of the themes such as Responsibility, Culture, and Community are important when working together throughout the school year. I highly recommend this book to be apart of any teachers classroom library. Although this book is short and sweet and relatively easy for children to grasp it's themes and content can provide rich, creative learning experiences and conversations for students that can stretch beyond the classroom. I hope that you can enjoy this book as much as I did. I'm sure your students would appreciate it and enjoy it even more.

Tavia

March 08, 2015

A Chair for my Mother by Vera B. Williams, is a story about a little girl, her mother, and her grandmother. The story is told in the little girls point of view. She begins by informing the reader how hard her mother and her work to save money, and grandma often chips in. The narrator continues to explain why they are saving their money in a giant jar for a special chair. She begins to tell the story of how her family home burned down. She reveals that after the unfortunate fire several people throughout the community came and gave them donations of all sorts, but they still did not have a big comfy chair to rest in at the end of the day. After the narrator finishes telling the story of how their house burned down, she reveals that they finally saved enough money to buy a big comfy chair. So her and her family shop and shop, until they finally find the perfect chair. This book relates to the cultural topic: family, because it resembles a single parent family. This book is realistic fiction and includes a plot that is very interesting. I was shocked to find that the author begin to tell the story from the place at which the characters were currently at in their lives and then went back to tell us how they arrived to that point. The pictures in this book are a good representation of what is taking place, and clearly depict the character and the story line. This book exposes children to a different way of life culturally.

L-Crystal

February 18, 2010

A Chair for My Mother is for kindergarten-third grade students and is a Caldecott Honor book (1983). This book is about a girl named Rosa, her mother, and grandmother who live together and live from paycheck to paycheck after their home and possessions were destroyed by a fire. They decide to save any extra money in a big jar until they can afford to buy one big comfortable chair that all three of them can enjoy. This story is heartwarming and tender and has themes of love, family, strength, and determination It is a simple story, with depth and spontaneity. The illustrations are done in watercolor in an expressionistic style. They are colorful and energetic and have a cozy feel. Intense roses, blues, yellows, and greens represent strength, energy, and determination. The text and illustrations completely complement each other. This story would be best used in the classroom when discussing character counts topics and situations concerning responsibility and helping one another, as well as family and determination.

Christi

May 16, 2016

After a devastating fire in their last apartment destroyed many of their belongings, leaving nothing but piles of ashes, a single mother and her daughter begin to rebuild. Friends and neighbors have helped them by bringing them the basic furniture and things they need to their new apartment. Because her mother works so hard, on her feet all day, the little girl wants her mother to be able to rest in a soft, comfortable chair after long days at the Blue Tile Diner. Grandmother collects the change in a jar from bargains she discovers at the market, all of them save their coins for a long time hoping to get a soft place to land for Mother. When the jar is finally filled, they roll the coins and head out with Grandmother to search for the perfect chair. After looking in four different stores they come across the perfect chair that is exactly what they were looking for, “just right". Teaching ideas: Helping other people or Working toward a goal. Students could set a goal of their own and list the steps needed to reach it. Interest level: k-2, GLE 3.8, Lexile 640L, DRA 24, GR M

Toree

November 11, 2007

•This story is about a tragedy and how the family is coping with the aftermath. It is about saving for something special and the importance of friends and family. •Many children don’t have everything they need. I like how this story gives an example of one little girl but focuses on the important things in her life.•This can be used with children to start a discussion of the important things in their lives and how it is important to do things for others.Read aloud for 1st through 3rd. Used to lead to a deeper discussion with both younger and older students.

Jinya

April 24, 2018

I like this book because we can teach young children how to care about their mother. This book is telling about Rosa ,her mother and grandmother save money for buying a comfortable chair after their house burned in a fire. I think children will say things like this my mommy will lay on our comfortable chair after she finished her job.i would ask children question like this do you love your mother,how you make your mother feel happy.

Jessica

October 31, 2017

This is such a beautiful story! This has so many different topics like family, hardships,hardwork, love and generosity. This family faced a tragedy as they lost their belongings in a fire. Rosa, her mother and grandmother save a their loose change to purchase a comfy chair they can all use. They are so dedicated in restoring their lives after such a tragic event.

Shiela

September 29, 2019

A story of a girl who had lost her home and how the family had worked together to save money to buy this new furniture, a soft chair!This book is a caldecott winning book as it reflects the lives/ experiences of different children from various socio- economic.The character is relatable to young children that she narrates her experience with so much details of what they were doing previous to the fire, what had happened during the fire and the family plan to buy the chair. Rosa describes how her family had involved her in saving the money, counting and depositing the funds so they can buy the sofa. I think that many children can relate to her experience of viewing her immediate family as a source for support as well as the larger community to support her whole family.I recommend this book because it teaches children on how to be resilient in moments of crisis and how symbolism is so important. In this case the chair is a symbol of hope where mom can find a place to rest after a long day of work and that daughter's generosity in considering this idea of the chair as part of being home.Some students who lives with only their mother and those who have an extended family members or children who have parents that works the service industry such as restaurants or jobs that requires their family to be away for a long period of time would make a connection to this story. Teachers can use this to teach about resilience and the joy of having families in the midst of tragedies in life. Support the idea of understanding what are the most important things in our lives, our families.

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