THE TABLE WHERE RICH PEOPLE SIT

Money. Always a problem. A young girl feels her family is too poor, and she calls a family meeting to discuss the question of money. But by giving another definition of rich, her folks set her straight: They are indeed rich in ways immeasurable by the dollar (although they assign monetary values to their pleasures for the purposes of the meeting). The family members lead lives of great deliberation, being where they want to be, doing what they choose to do. Sunrise, ocean waves, the smell of rain, mountain shadows, bird calls—these all add up (to $60,000, to be precise). And, of course, they have each other, which is worth $4,000,000 more. The final tally, without even including what they actually earn, comes to $4,060,000. So they are rich. Baylor's (Your Own Best Secret Place, 1991, etc.) story can be clumsy, even ham-handed, but the message is immediate. More problematic are the illustrations: Peter Max-like psychedelia meets Outdoor Life in a fusion that crashes and burns. (Fiction/Picture book. 7-10)