This is a heartwarming story about a little girl, her mother, and grandmother that live together in an apartment. A fire destroys their apartment along with all their possessions and when they are able to move into a new apartment, their neighbors bring them furniture, food, and kitchenware. After all the donations are given, they decide to save coins from her mother's tips from working at the Blue Tile Diner to purchase "A wonderful, beautiful, fat, soft armchair". The little girl also contributes to the jar of coins from the money she earns helping her mother at the diner. They finally end up filling the big jar with coins, enough to buy "the best chair in the world". The brightly colored pictures supplement the story beautifully and reinforce the themes of this story (sacrifice, love, and affirmation of life). This Caldecott Honor-winning book is appropriate for discussing these themes with students in grades K-2nd.