A CHAIR FOR ALWAYS

Yes, good things do come to those who wait! It’s been more than 25 years since A Chair for My Mother was published and won a 1983 Caldecott Honor. Now Rosa and the chair return. Two previous books about Rosa, Something Special for Me (1983) and Music, Music for Everyone (1984), follow the first but focus on her choosing a special birthday present and joining a band to earn money to help her mom when her grandmother is sick. In this companion story, Rosa waits for the birth of her baby cousin, who is being delivered at home by a midwife. The ingenuous text captures Rosa’s excitement as she sits in her mother’s chair and imagines Baby filling out her combo. After Baby Benji arrives, Grandma and Mama both suggest replacing the old chair, but Rosa demonstrates the staunch conservatism of the very young—“Don’t you even care about history?”—and the role of the chair in this close family circle happily continues. As the narrative weaves all the stories together, Williams’s inimitable gouache illustrations personalize the family members in this very satisfying tale. (Picture book. 4-8)