This Table

Killian, making a picture book debut, and Smart (Families Belong) celebrate how a farm-style dining table, born from a single helicopter seed, becomes “the heart of someone’s home.” Expertly shaped, sanded, stained, and sealed so it radiates a warm luster, the former tree becomes “strong and stable,” serving as center stage for a busy extended family, portrayed with various abilities and skin tones. The table holds birthday cakes, puzzles, and projects of all kinds; becomes the infrastructure for a blanket fort for “secret club meetings”; and hosts “many meals big and not so big.” Warm-hued, close-lined double spreads occasionally depict the table in two different time periods, as when its left side is the scene of a brightly lit and cheerily decorated birthday party, while the right side suggests a moment early the next day—remnants of the decorations still linger, and the grown-up who orchestrated the party is now feeding a baby as morning light streams in. Pieces of furniture like the table may no longer strictly be living things, but they are essential parts of human life, creating spaces for “gathering, and sharing stories, and being together.” Ages 4–8. (May)