Grit

A Chair For My Mother (Book Review)

A Chair For My Mother

A Chair For My Mother is a children’s book written and illustrated by Vera Williams. It is a heartwarming story of a young girl, her mother, and her grandmother, who work together to save money and buy a comfortable chair for their new apartment after losing all their possessions in a fire. The story highlights the importance of hard work, perseverance, and saving money to achieve your goals.

A Chair For My Mother Summary

The story is told from the perspective of a young girl who lives with her mother and grandmother in a small apartment. The family lost all their possessions in a fire, which also destroyed their apartment. They had to move to a new apartment, but it was empty and needed furniture. The mother worked hard as a waitress at the Blue Tile Diner, saving all the coins she earned to buy a big comfortable chair for their home. The girl and her grandmother also helped by earning coins and storing them in a jar. The family’s goal was to save enough money to buy a chair that they could all sit in and be comfortable.

The touching story covers the family’s journey and the many obstacles they face along the way. They persevere through hard work and grit. They encounter financial setbacks and difficulties in their new apartment, but they learn to work together to overcome them. The young girl also learns the value of community and how people can come together to help each other in times of need.

Kid Money Lessons

One of the book’s central themes is the importance of saving money. The mother works hard to earn coins she saves in a jar. The girl and her grandmother also contribute to the family’s savings by making money from various sources. The story teaches children about the value of money, the importance of saving, and how to work towards a financial goal. It is an excellent book to teach children about financial literacy concepts such as saving, budgeting, and earning money.

Finally, it’s possible to use the fire in the apartment as a warning of what happens when people don’t have adequate insurance. However, this topic may be too advanced for the book’s intended audience.

Reading Level and Awards

The book is appropriate for children in grades K-3. The reading level is approximately second grade, with simple sentences and easy vocabulary. The book’s illustrations are colorful and captivating, drawing the reader into the story and helping to convey the characters’ emotions. The book’s length is just right for young readers, and the story is engaging and easy to follow.

A Chair For My Mother has won numerous awards. The biggest one is that it is a Caldecott Honor Book. It also has won the Notable Children’s Book by the American Library Association and the Parents’ Choice Award. These awards recognize the book’s literary and artistic excellence and its ability to engage and educate young readers.

A Chair For My Mother Read-Along

A Chair For My Mother has a few read-alongs on YouTube. This one seemed to be one of the best:

Other Books to Consider

Similar books to A Chair For My Mother include The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills, The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, and The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. These books also teach valuable lessons about resilience, community, and the importance of kindness.

Get Your Kids Motivated with Papersalt Books

Motivation Papersalt Books

(Today, I’m taking another detour from kid money to “kid life.” However, like my other detours, these topics can also come back to money. For example, we’ll cover a book on grit today, which is a quality that will help a kid make money. Of course, grit is essential outside of the world of money. There’s one more thing before we get started. Papersalt did not sponsor this article, but it may seem like they did. I may make some money, at no cost to you, if you buy these books.)

We were on a family trip to Lake Winnipesaukee when a book in a gift shop caught my attention – Grit for Boys – Empowerment Book for Tweens, Teens and Young Men.

I opened it up and thumbed through a few pages. I was amazed by the quotes. Here are a couple of examples:

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it.”

and

“Don’t be fearful of what could go wrong. Get excited for what may go right.”

Each page was one excellent quote after another. The pages are thick (130# stock) and seemingly waterproof. I don’t want to test it, but they have a plastic feel. With the spiral binding, it is clear that they’ll last a long, long time. That binding also lets me open it to display a different daily page.

There’s nothing magical about quotes about courage, grit, and perseverance. I’m sure you can find dozens with a quick Google search. There might even be many of the exact curated quotes in the book. However, the presentation and being able to put it in my sons’ hands is essential. I was going to try to get it from the library, but I didn’t see it available in any library in Rhode Island.

So I bought the book. But I didn’t just buy the grit book. I bought two more books: Papersalt’s Being a Big Brother and Papersalt’s Being a Boy.

These books remind me of Life’s Little Instruction Book, but aimed at the things that matter for kids.

I bought these books because I have boys, but there are versions for girls too. For example there are Being a Girl and Grit for Girls. I didn’t buy either of these two books (again, not having girls), but from the pictures on Amazon, it looks like they have the same content as the books for boys. Maybe some of the pages are different, but the example pages they show are the same, but with different art.

There are also books aimed at teens, but I haven’t looked at these. I know I will in a few years as my kids get older. If you have older kids and buy one of these books, leave me a comment. I’d like to know how they are.

In my searches for other Papersalt books, I found one more that intrigued me – Becoming Fearless. However, the Papersalt website didn’t have it. I wrote Papersalt, and they said it was out of print and wouldn’t know when/if it would be available again. It was still available at New York Puzzle Company, so I ordered that one. It’s just as good as all the others. There seems to be some overlap in concepts with the Grit book, but that’s to be expected. They are both about overcoming obstacles.

Superman and Money

Superman Money

I’ve been writing tips for how to teach your kids about money for almost half a year now.

It’s time for something different.

Being a kid is tough. There are so many things to learn from A-B-Cs to 1-2-3s to Doh-Ray-Mis. I feel it’s important for money to have a role in there, but you shouldn’t overdo it. Today is a reminder to know when to roll back the money lessons and focus on what’s important.

To help us with that, I’ll present you with Superman’s Song by the Crash Test Dummies. Check out the video:

Writing this article is the first time I’ve actually seen the video. We can leave the context of Superman’s death for another time, but I wanted to focus on the lyrics and the message.

Throughout the song, the Dummies compare Superman to Tarzan. Essentially, they put down Tarzan for being a terrible hero and point out the ways that Superman is awesome. I don’t think of Tarzan as a superhero, so it’s an unfair comparison, but they make some brilliant points about Superman.

Specifically:

Superman never made any money
Savin’ the world from Solomon Grundy

Hey Bob, Supe had a straight job
Even though he coulda smashed through
Any bank in the United States
He had the strength but he would not

Sometimes when Supe was stoppin’ crimes
I’ll bet that he was tempted to just quit
And turn his back on man
Join Tarzan in the forest
But he stayed in the city
Kept on changin’ clothes
In dirty old phone booths ’til his work was through
Had nothin’ to do but go on home

It’s an important message to stress the ethics behind earning money. It’s an important message to stress that sometimes we do work and deal with things we don’t like because it’s the right thing to do for others.

Give it a listen with your kids and talk about it. Maybe we’ll inspire a whole generation of little Supermen and Superwomen.