The Books

My Chair

by Betsy James
Illustrated by Mary Newel Depalma

One Potato Review

Giving the imagination a ride. Here are some of the extraordinary ways to think of something as ordinary as a chair – where it comes from, and where you’re going when you bend yourself into one. Or under it: “a place where grown-ups aren’t… all the caves in the world, all the darkness and the safest treasure.” And while the faces of these children aren’t always the most expressive, all of their propping and tilting and draping and rearranging and (mostly exterior) decorating is sufficiently inspired you might wonder if you’ve forgotten the whole point of furniture in the first place. With a wonderful little bit about a wheelchair too: “It’s not quite legs, and not quite wings. It’s like glasses – I put it on in the morning. I wear my chair to zoom like a roller skater, dance like a bear.”