Music, Music for Everyone

The Rosa Books #3

by Vera B. Williams

A beautiful celebration of the power of music and of community—a companion book to the beloved Caldecott Honor picture book A Chair for My Mother. "Rosa organizes her friends into the Oak Street Band in order to earn money her family needs because of her grandma's illness. Community, family and personal triumphs converge, making unforgettable music for everyone." — School Library Journal "Visual references connect readers to earlier books about Rosa's three-generation family, while the theme here underscores the interrelationship of Rosa to her foremothers, her girl friends, and their neighborhood. Images rich in vitality are placed within superbly composed, bordered watercolor paintings to convey the spirit of the story as well as details of their daily living." —BCCB Vera B. Williams's beloved picture book favorites

Genres: Picture Books, Music, Childrens, Family, Friendship, Fiction, Mathematics

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Graduate of Black Mountain College, North Carolina, where she majored in graphic art. In her own words, she has "done graphic art, school teaching, children-raising [she has two daughters and a son], has run a bakery and been a cook in schools and restaurants." (from back flap of book)

Vera B. Williams is the winner of the 2009 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature.

You can read much more about this author here or here

Reviews

[Jill Culver]

This book is about a girl's sick grandma and that girl and her friends. The girl and her friends play music at a family friend's party. The book was long and a bit flat, I tried to read it to my child three times and he had almost no interest in it. I had trouble paying attention to it too. I will not be adding it to my library for these reasons above. If it had been shorter and the story line had made a bit more sense I might have liked it more.

[Prabhat sharma]

The Rosa Books #3 - Music, Music for Everyone (Rise and Shine) by Vera B. Williams- Children’s Illustrated Colour Picture Book- The Rosa Books # 3 continues the story further. Rosa is an Afro-American girl child whose mother is bringing her up as a single mother. Her mother serves as a waitress at the Blue Tile Diner Restaurant where Rosa helps her after school. The owner Josephine pays Rosa for her help at the restaurant. They have a glass jar in which they save the coins earned by Rosa. With their savings they have purchased a red comfortable chair with flower covers. Second item purchased with the family savings is an accordion which Rosa has learnt to play. Grandma used to sit on the comfortable chair everyday but now this chair is not being used by her as Grandma is ill. Rosa’s family needs money to pay her medical bills. Rosa has to find a solution to this issue before her family. Source of income is less and expenses are more. Rosa discusses with her friends that they should form a band and play at a club for payment. The Afro-American community would purchase tickets to help them and listen to the music played by Rosa’s Accordion group. Rosa forms the Oak Street Band, meet the community to help organize a concert, sell tickets and help her earn money. Ultimately, the Oak Street Band is able to hold the concert, earn money and help in the medical bills for her grandma. Message from the book is that families should look for solutions, work on solutions, meet community members so that all can help to contribute to overcome the difficulty. Coloured illustrations help the reader in relating to each page of the book.

[Brenda]

In this picture book, Rosa has a sick grandmom and brings her soup. Grandmom would always sit in the chair and listen to Rosa play the accordion. Rose decided to organize her Leora, Jenny, and Mae into the Oak Street Band to earn money. Rosa's family needs because of her grandma's illness. The music teacher helps them pick the music. Leora's mother asked them to play at her grandfather's party.

The illustration is abstracted, drawn as if by a child. the story was heartfelt and is a story of Community, and family making unforgettable music for everyone.

[Kyja Wilburn]

I love that this book covers illness and family money troubles and kids coming up with things on their own and the ways that adults help them while still giving them space and the healing power of music! That's alot that I don't see in many picture books! Plus I love these illustrations so. I love the diversity of the friends... This is a gem.

[Becky]

First sentence: Our big chair often sits in our living room empty now.

Premise/plot: Rosa's grandmother is sick. Rosa forms a band with her friends--remember she got a musical instrument in Something Special for Me--to help raise money for the family.

My thoughts: This is the third book in the series. The focus is on family, friends, community. I liked it.

[Jessica]

Beautiful, colorful illustrations. A lovely story with a pleasant ending. The author leaves enough mystery to keep the reader asking questions.

[Miss Sarah]

An elementary and up picture book about a child whose family is struggling financially and emotional who starts a band with friends to try and earn money. very sentimental

[Beth]

More stories with the big chair and the money jar.

[Kelly Chester]

What a great book love the pictures and the theme of the book

[Sarah]

Rosa shows her generosity again when she earns money by forming a band to help with her grandmother's medical bills.

[Samantha Brumbaugh]

Summary: "Rosa organizes her friends into the Oak Street Band in order to earn money her family needs because of her Grandma's illness....Community, family and personal triumphs converge, making unforgettable music for everyone."
Genre: Fictional Picture Book
Reading Level:Fluent, This book is fluent because it has paragraphs on each page. The font is small and there are lots of words on each page. There are tricky words within the book such as: accordion, squeezed, and beautiful. Also the illustrations add to the book but they do not help the reader to know what the story is saying.
Topic:Making a band with your friends, helping out your family
Curriculum:Read-Aloud for grades 2-3, it would also be a great read aloud in music class.
Social Issues: The importance of music in a young child's life. Diversity in the world because this is a hispanic family.
Literary Elements: Uses descriptive text such a big, long tables all pushed together
Illustrations & Text: The illustrations in this book are very colorful and bring to life the hispanic culture within the book. The text and the illustrations work together at telling the story.

[Levonne Gigger]

I love the fact that this is a sequel to Something Special for Me. You don't usually think of a lower level book as having a sequel. I like that both books can be read independently of one another if desired. From the gift that Rosa purchased for herself she now continues on to the next phase of life. The realness of life is explored as Rosa's grandmother's illness starts to overcome her. Rosa grapples with feeling helpless concerning her grandma...until she has a great idea.

The use of tension is very great in this book. The realness of having a sick grandparent is relatable for everyone at some point in life.

For the very reason I have just stated this book can definitely be used. If there is a child in the class who just lost a grandmother, or any other family member this book can be used as a way to hear others' words that a child not be able to come up with to express how they are feeling or felt. This book also can encourage children's ability to do big things, "even a child," as the book says.

[Lynn]

I hate to admit that I have not read “A Chair for my Mother” for ages, and cannot remember it well enough to compare, so this review will be without that background.
My granddaughter picked this book as a free book from the Erie PA public library program “Kick Off to Kindergarten” program. I think she was attracted by the girls playing instruments on the cover. I saw her eyes darting around each page as I read, as she tried to match the text to the water-color illustrations. Some pages were easy to identify, other pages have small images surrounding the soft-colored text boxes. Each page has some sort of frame that relates to the text, such as an awning and brick on the page about the store or blue and white checks for the table at the party.
The story has enough detail and explanation in it that reading “Chair…” was not critical. Great example of how children can make a difference!
This book would reassure any youngsters who have aging grandparents, as well as show them how to help take care of and entertain them in meaningful ways.

[Jenny]

This was a sequel to A Chair for My Mother, a story I've read to my class numerous times. I was pleased to realize that this goes with the first story. In this, the narrator's grandma is sick and there is no money in their money jar. So she and her friends decide to form a band and play at special occasions. This turns out to be good for everyone...lots of discussion/lessons could come from this book... problem solving, saving money, how to earn money, the value of music, the importance of practicing something if you want to be good at it (and yet I want to point out that this story is an enjoyable story and not preachy...these are themes you might take from the story but that aren't explicitly stated). I just often like to record my thoughts about how I'd use a book in my classroom.

[Robert]

Perhaps it was this book that was included in the Harcourt anthology when I first began teaching. It seems to me I used to say this was the third book in the trilogy. Hmm . . . I just don't recall.

It is indeed the third book. The chair has been replaced due to the fire. The money jar is depleted because grandmother is ill. The girl and her friends decided to form a band. They are actually paid. Rose makes certain her share goes into the family money jar.

As always, Vera B. Williams' illustrations are superb. I really like her style. The story is good too, although lacking compare to A Chair for My Mother.

[Jennifer Borduin]

The little girl in this book wants to put money back in the money jar for her grandmother. This can be a great story for a math lesson on sharing. All the girls in the band earn a total amount of money for their performance. They have to share that money between the four of them. How do we know how much money each girl gets? What if the band played another show, but only three of the girls show up and they made such-and-such amount of money. How would the three girls split up X amount of money?

[Lyndee Stisher]

Music, Music for Everyone by Vera B. Williams is a heartwarming story about a little girl that will do anything to help her grandma become healthier. Rosa and her friends come together and start their own band named the Oak Street Band. Through music, Rosa is able to raise money for her sick grandmother. I recommend this book to anyone who loves to see friends and family come together to help others.

[Kathryn Hogan]

The story was very cute. I loved how the little girl started a band with several of her friends to save money for her family "grandma". Rosa plays the accordian and wants to start a band. She was afrad that no one would pay children to play. She was wrong! This is a great story explaining to children that even though they are small they can still can accomplish anything.

[Amy]

In this third book about Rosa and her family, there is continuity with the others as "Our big chair often sits in our living room empty now." Grandma is sick and tired now. The jar is empty and money seems tight. And so Rosa looks for a way to help her grandma get better. Another fun and warm Rosa and family book!

[Rocheal Hoffman]

Music can be medicinally soothing. The character on the story takes care of her older grandmother, and as their roles change she relies on music to fill her heart with joy. The end talks about four equal shares of money from a music gig--this creates a real-world connection.

[Kelsey Ruggirello]

This is a good book about a little girl who wants to get money to put in their jar, it was empty because her grandma got sick and her mom needed the money for her grandma. So it was really cool to see how this little girl really cared and tried helping her grandma.

[Annie Delight]

library

[Ashanti]

I think it was sad in the begining because her poor granma was sick

[Audrey Harlan]

This is a touching story about a girl taking things into her own hands to help her grandmother.

[Cheryl]

Such a beautiful book. Brightly colored watercolors add a soft feel to the heartwarming text about a family of 3 generations that work together to make a happy life.

[Gracie]

This is a sequel to "A Chair for My Mother," which I also love. This story has such good messages about having good friends, working hard, and being loyal to your family.

[Gianni Llano]

I loved the fact that this is a sequel to "A Chair for my mother," a story I read as a child. I love the grandmother granddaughter relationship illustrated in this book.

[Deborah]

Nice follow up to A Chair for my Mother. First graders liked that aspect quite a bit.

[Miss Kelly]

This picture book was okay, I don't think I would use it for a storytime. Good book to read one on one with a child. Vivid pictures.Fair.

[Rosanna]

Z loved it when he learned the chair is from another story we read, A Chair For My Mother.