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Summary
Summary
Rosa's grandma is sick and must stay upstairs in bed. And so the big chair in the living room is often empty. And the money jar--in which the family saved their change to buy the big red chair and Rosa's accordion--is empty too. All extra money must be used to take care of Grandma.
After school Rosa and her friends Leora, Mae, and Jenny often make music for Grandma. She says their playing makes her feel like a girl again, dancing at a party. And that is the beginning of Rosa's wonderful idea.
A kaleidoscope of emotions--joy, sadness, merriment, and love--bursts from the pages of this exuberant book.
Author Notes
Vera Baker Williams was born on January 28, 1927 in Hollywood, California. She studied at the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan and Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where she received a BFA in graphic arts. She co-found the Gate Hill Cooperative and the Collaberg School, in Stony Point, New York.
She worked as a teacher and artist before becoming a writer and illustrator of children's books. She won a Caldecott Medal award and the Boston Globe-Horn Book award in the picture book category in 1983 for A Chair for My Mother, a Caldecott Medal award in 1991 for "More More More" Said the Baby: Three Love Stories, the Boston Globe-Horn Book award in fiction in 1994 for Scooter, and the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature in 2009.
She was a member of the executive committee of the War Resisters League from 1984 to 1987, and served a month at a federal penitentiary for participating in a women's peaceful blockade of the Pentagon. She died on October 16, 2015 at the age of 88.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Kirkus Review
You might just well-up from the emotional charge of Williams' successor to A Chair for My Mother and Something Special for Me. It's the luminous tremor of the pictures, combined with what happens, that gives this a special vibrance. Grandma is sick, so the big, rose-print chair in the living room is often empty. Upstairs in bed, she likes it when Rosa and her friends play music for her: ""Leora plays the drums, Mae plays the flute, Jenny plays the fiddle and I play my accordion."" Worried because the big money jar is empty (maybe, says Mae, ""because your mother has to spend all her money to take care of your grandma""), Rosa recalls her mother telling her about her other grandma, who played the accordion at parties and weddings, and was paid. Grandma's all for it. The Oak Street Band is formed; gets help, practices. And their first job is to play at a party for Leora's great-grandparents, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their comer market. (Now it's run by Leora's mother, who plays the radio. ""But for the party she said there just had to be live music."") The children are first shy, then they play and play ""like a real band""--while a whirl of dancers young and old fills two wordless pages. The book closes in quiet exultation, with Rosa putting her share of the evening's money into the big jar. Brimming to look at--see Grandma calling out the window, with big snowflakes in her hair--and heart-catching, sometimes, to listen to. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Ages 4^-7. Williams continues the story begun with Un sillon para mi mama (A Chair for My Mother); but now the family chair is often empty, for Abuela is sick in bed. Rosa wonders how, with Abuela sick, they will ever be able to fill the money jar again. Rosa organizes her friends into la Banda de la Calle Oak, which debuts with great success at a neighbor's anniversary party. Spanish-speaking children will welcome this latest installment about Rosa and her family.
