Brit Mott

“Good morning class.”

“Good morning, Ms. Melton.”

Plano’s Aldridge Elementary School music teacher Sue McCallum Melton closes the CD player and summons her students to her rocking chair where she holds up a book called Chairs to Mend. The “chirp, chirp” of birds and “clippity clop” of horses hoofs reverberate through the speaker as the third-graders’ imaginations drift to a summer day in 1885 Boston. Two dozen ears perk up to the voice of the narrator on the CD, the all-too-familiar voice of Ms. Melton: “In 1885, a young lady named Rachel lived in Boston, Massachusetts.…”

In less than 10 minutes, the students meet a chair mender, a fishmonger, and a ragman on the bustling streets of Boston. With each encounter, they learn the musical chants one would hear on a typical day there in the 1880s. By the end of the book, Rachel, the main character, creates a song, and Ms. Melton encourages the students to do the same: “Just listen to the world around you!” she implores. Read More


Excerpt from page 16
One June morning, as the children were eating their breakfast in the kitchen, Rachel heard a sound from outside. Of course all the windows were open (there was no air conditioning in 1885!). It was the familiar sound of a wagon coming down the street. The horse’s hoofs were making a distinct “clippity clop” on the cobblestones. She thought she recognized the sound of the chair mender as he sang out his musical chant, “Chairs to mend, old chairs to mend.”

His voice rang out again, a little louder and closer this time: "Chairs to mend, old chairs to mend." Now the neighbors on her street would know that the man who could fix furniture was arriving. This time, Rachel's mother heard him, too. "Chairs to mend, old chairs to mend," he sang as he made his steady progress towards their home. Rachel's mother gave her fifteen cents and asked her to take the payment to the chair mender. The week before, Rachel had given a chair to him for repair. The seat of the chair need to be re-caned. Rachel gave him the money and returnd the good-as-new chair back to the kitchen, restoring it to its rightful place at the table. Again, she heard, "Chairs to mend, old chairs to mend," as the chair mender continued down the street seeking more customers.

Rachel's mother told her that as soon as they cleaned the breakfast dishes they would go to the local outdoor market. Rachel was excited because she loved the market! As they arrived, Rachel could already hear the sounds and smell the aromas that reminded her of why she liked the market so much. There were baskets full of fruits such as cherries, strawberries, pears, and oranges. Other baskets contained cabbages, turnips, radishes, and peas. And since Boston is a seaport town, vendors were selling fresh fish, oysters, and flounders.

To order this book and a word-for-word narration on CD, visit chairstomend.com.