The Rocking Chair is a story about an ordinary piece of furniture that gets to experience the extraordinary range of human emotions as it watches four generations of a family grow over time.  It finds itself in a new and wonderful place in its life when a newborn baby arrives to its home. The rocking chair becomes alive and connected to the family members as they sit on it and rock. It even begins to experience the same human characteristics as the humans that rock on him, such as the five senses: seeing, touching, tasting, hearing and smelling.

It tells stories about all the wonderful experiences and joys that a newborn baby brings to a family. However, when the baby is all grown-up, the rocking chair is no longer used, and the rocking chair experiences loneliness, emptiness and great sadness.

When the rocking chair grows old, it “stays still.”  It is left to reminisce on all the wonderful memories from four generations with the same family. It has experienced the same joys as the family that rocked a baby on it, and the inevitable sadness that comes when a child becomes an adult leaving home for college.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Nelibeth Plaza is an elementary school teacher and was an Assistant Principal for six years at P.S. 345 and P.S. 16. For 24 years, she has worked for the New York City Department of Education. She loves children, and has a passion for reading books out loud.

While staying at home for a year on a Line of Duty Injury, she decided to take this opportunity to write during her recovery. That was the beginning of her writing career. THE RED OAK ROCKING CHAIR