A Chair for My Mother is a 1982 Caldecott Honor book by Vera Williams . According to the book's inscription, it was written in memory of the author's mother, Rebecca Poringer Baker. In January 2007, a 25th anniversary edition of the book was released.
12-408: Vera Baker Williams (January 28, 1927 – October 16, 2015) was an American children's writer and illustrator. Her best known work, A Chair for My Mother , has won multiple awards and was featured on the children's television show Reading Rainbow . For her lifetime contribution as a children's illustrator she was U.S. nominee in 2004 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award ,
24-637: A houseboat in Vancouver , British Columbia . She established a publishing relationship with Greenwillow Books that continues to this day. Most recently, Ms. Williams resided in New York City and remained active in local issues such as The House of Elder Artists and participated in the 2007 PEN World Voices literary festival. She died on October 16, 2015. Williams long supported nonviolent and nuclear disarmament causes. She contributed artwork for several covers of Liberation magazine. In 1981 she spent
36-456: A large jar. The little girl says that they are saving up the coins for a new chair, because their old furniture had burned up in a fire at their old house. She tells the events of the fire and how she, her mother, and her grandmother had to go stay with her aunt and uncle. Her aunt and uncle then moved downstairs, so the girl's mother was left to fill the apartment. Everyone in the neighborhood pitched in to help them decorate their new place bringing
48-631: A month in Alderson Federal Prison Camp following arrest at a women's peaceful blockade of the Pentagon. She served on the executive committee of the War Resisters League from 1984 to 1987. Asked about her arrest record, she responded: I don't make a point of ending up in jail, but if you try to put your hopes and beliefs for a better life into effect, arrest is sometimes a hazard. I am asked if I think any of his helps or works. I say, in
60-484: A nurse, working 12-hour-days, and wanted a chair to relax in. The family had to forgo other purchases to make the payments for the chair. Williams always regretted saying to her mother, "You shouldn't have bought the chair if you couldn't afford it." She drew on that experience to write A Chair for My Mother . A Chair for My Mother is told from the first-person point of view of a young girl who watches her mother work hard to bring home money, specifically tips to put into
72-448: A rug, new curtains, a kitchen table and more. The story returns to present day, a year after the fire. The jar is now full, so they count up all the change and put them in rolls. They tried many different chairs until they found the perfect one, red with pink flowers on it. The story wraps up with the girl, her mother, and her grandmother spending time together enjoying their new chair. In 1983, Williams published Something Special for Me ,
84-414: Is forthcoming as of January 2024. A Chair for My Mother A Chair for My Mother is a read-aloud picture story book, written for an audience between ages 4 and 8. Williams uses primary colors in the illustrations that are drawn as if by the young girl in the story. When Williams was a child, she resented a chair that her mother had bought on an installment plan. Her mother was training to become
96-826: The Bronx House, a local community center. Her book Scooter , published in 1993, is based on her childhood in the Bronx. Encouraged by their parents to explore the arts, she studied at the High School of Music & Art and Black Mountain College in North Carolina , where she received her BFA in Graphic Art in 1949. While at Black Mountain College , she married fellow student Paul Williams. The couple divorced in 1970. Together they had three children: She has five grandchildren: Williams
108-781: The Vera's Story Garden at Ethelbert B. Crawford Library in Monticello, New York , was named a United for Libraries Literary Landmark in honor of Vera B. Williams. It was dedicated by the Empire State Center for the Book . Her original artwork is held in collections including the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division and the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center . A book about Vera B. Williams by historian Mark Davenport
120-474: The highest recognition available to creators of children's books. Additionally, she was awarded the 2009 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature . Vera Baker was born January 28, 1927, in Hollywood, California. She has one sister, Naomi. As a child, her family moved to the Bronx , New York , where her father was frequently absent during her early childhood. In New York City, she danced, acted, and painted at
132-489: The short run, we can't know, but many things we take for granted have been gained by the similar actions of people like myself: the end of child labor, more rights for black people, the vote for women, the end of the Vietnam War are a few. As a person who works for children, who raised three children...I have been able to say I did something to try to save our planet from destruction. It is my faith that we will. On May 4, 2019,
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#1733085690670144-555: Was a co-founder of the Gate Hill Cooperative Community and served as a teacher for the community from 1953–70. She taught at alternative schools in New York and Ontario throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Following her divorce, she emigrated to Canada, where she committed to becoming a children's author and illustrator. In 1975 she was invited by Remy Charlip to illustrate Hooray for Me , which she did while living on
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