"My mother worked so late at the Blue Tile Diner that Grandma and I fell asleep in our big chair waiting for her. Grandma woke a little around midnight. 'Pussycat,' she said, 'look at us asleep in this chair like two mice in a nest. Go get in bed. Kids like you need to dream.'"
I have coveted Vera B Williams books since I got my first copy of A Chair for My Mother. I loved it so much and shared it so often that I had to buy a second, and then a third copy. But, I love it today as I did that day long ago when I first read it. And I have loved each of her other books, as well. But that first chair book remains special.
Now along comes another book about the chair and the role it plays in Rosa's life. When their home was destroyed in a fire, Rosa, her mother and her grandmother went to live with Aunt Ida and Uncle Sandy. They started putting money in a jar that would be used to buy them a new chair...a big, warm, cozy chair that would provide for all the snuggling they needed. The chair with the velvet roses is the chair they bought and they have shared it every day since then. When Aunt Ida's new baby is born at home and the family helps with the care and nurturing of Benji, Grandma gets restless about the old, stained chair and suggests that they should buy a new one.
Rosa is aghast! She can never part with her special, much-loved chair. Even if she becomes President she will want that chair with her. It has too much history to think of parting with it. She is adamant. Mama is indulgent and recognizes that she will forever lose the argument. With a hug and a warm 'I love you' she agrees with Rosa and the chair is theirs forever.
This is one of those rare stories, with its familiar characters, that glows with love and family. The three women have such respect for each other, such love of family and real togetherness as they navigate a life that is not always easy. But, they relish their good fortune, their loved ones and that life as they live it each day.
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