Williams, Vera B

Rosa has difficulty choosing a special birthday present to buy with the coins her mother and grandmother have saved, until she hears a man playing beautiful music on an accordion.

Rosa plays her accordion with her friends in the Oak Street Band and earns money to help her mother with expenses while her grandmother is sick.

A series of poems tells how two sisters help each other deal with life while their mother is working and their father has been sent to jail.

Bidemmi draws pictures and tells stories about cherries.

Stringbean describes his trip to the west coast in a series of postcards.