THIS TABLE

A table is at the center of a home.

This cozy book about a hand-hewn wooden table starts and ends evocatively: “This table began as a seed.” The seed grows into a “great strong tree” that’s felled by a lumberjack…or perhaps by lightning…or, possibly, a windstorm. Later, a skilled, brown-skinned carpenter cuts and measures the timber, sands it, attaches legs, stains and seals it, and leaves it to dry in the sun. Now it’s a “strong and stable” table, ready for use. And what stories the table could tell as it stands “in the middle of a room, in the middle of a house, and [as] life grew up around it.” It serves as a dining space, as well as a place to play and draw, to do puzzles and schoolwork, and, mostly, “for gathering, sharing stories, and being together.” Readers learn that this table, the “heart” of a home, centers people and families—a nice thought. This simply told Canadian import is quite lovely; children may wish to volunteer thoughts about how tables in their own homes compare with the one in the book. The inviting, homey watercolor illustrations, especially those of the table, have an appropriately grainy appearance, and the racially diverse characters also have an air of sturdiness, giving them not only a slightly “woodsy” appearance but also suggesting strength of character and purpose.

A warm charmer that will help readers reflect on life’s most important things.