A little red chair leads to … a book you’ll want to read

Kids fall in love with all sorts of things. Some expected and some not so much. I wrote SOPHIE’S SQUASH, a picture book about my daughter’s real-life love affair with a butternut squash. And, picture books have been written about kids developing strong attachments to other unexpected things like a desk lamp (MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMP), a dandelion (DANDY) and a piece of ice (CECIL THE PET GLACIER).

Soon, we’ll have a new addition in THE LITTLE RED CHAIR, a book about a small girl who finds a red chair that’s just her size and uses it to create memories that span generations.

The book — written by Cathy Stefanec Ogren and illustrated by Alexandra Thompson — joins the world Aug. 1 from Sleeping Bear Press. And, the story is delightful.

It’s inspired by a friend of Cathy’s who found a small chair in an antique store, purchased it, reupholstered it in red, and kept it for several years.

Then, Cathy’s adult daughter bought it from her and shared it with her four children. If you want to see complete and utter cuteness, there’s a picture of Cathy’s grandkids with the chair in the back of her book along with some info on “salesman’s samples” — small reproductions of adult-sized furniture that were used to convince furniture stores to stock the real thing. (Kind of like advance reading copies in the book world, now that I think of it!)

Want to see the chair that inspired the book?

Here’s Cathy sitting on it.

The book features Mia and her mother who find a small chair in an antique shop. The chair is desperately hoping for a home, but it’s a bit banged up and not full-size.

Mia, of course, can look past all that, so she convinces her mom to bring the chair home where they both “spruce it up” successfully.

Then, Mia uses her perfectly-sized chair for all sorts of fun adventures and daydreams. As Mia grows, she uses the chair in different ways, but it’s always right there. Until Mia goes to college and … it isn’t.

Unlike in the movie “Toy Story,” where Andy gives his toys to a small boy as he leaves, the red chair is relegated to a spot in the attic where it sits, lonely and forgotten, for several years until Mia — now all grown up — returns with her own daughter and a new round of sprucing up and memory creation begins.

Want to see the illustrator (who is not sitting on the chair)? Here she is. Alexandra has also written and illustrated A FAMILY FOR LOUIE and illustrated BEN AND EMMA’S BIG HIT, while Cathy has written PEW! THE STINKY AND LEGEN-DAIRY GIFT FROM COLONEL THOMAS S. MEACHAM.

THE LITTLE RED CHAIR is a great combination of inspired-by-real-life-events and editorial license. It features a strong story structure, clever use of alliteration and onomatopoeia that make it a fun readaloud choice, and wonderful endpapers that look like the chair’s tufted upholstery.

All the art is cozy and inviting in classic tones. Where some of the stories I mentioned in this post’s first paragraph are funny or quirky as they describe the child’s love for an unusual object, this book takes a different approach and is heartwarming and caring.

Cathy and Alexandra will be hosting events at several New England bookstores. You can join them there or order the book from any of the bookstores they’ll be visiting. (Or, you can get it from any other bookstore or online retailer.)

And then, once you’ve acquired a copy, you can read it in your own favorite chair!