The Table

by Wiley Blevins, Wiley Blevins, Jason Griffin (illustrator)

Two families—both filled with love, both encountering hardship and joy, both living in the same place—and the one simple table that connects them all.

For years, a mining family’s life revolves around their table. It’s where they eat, read, sew, laugh, and pay the bills; it’s stained with easter egg paint, warmed by fresh biscuits and the soft morning sun. 

Outside the house, though, Appalachia changes. The coal mine closes, and the bills keep coming. Eventually, there’s no choice but to move on— and to say goodbye to the table.

But When a young girl’s father sees the table by the road, he slams on the brakes. A lifelong carpenter, he can see it’s something special. They bring it home and clean it up; sitting around it, they eat and work and laugh. The girl wonders if another child once sat there, if they were anything like her. She’ll never know . . . but the table remembers. 

The Table is a stirring contemplation on the similarity between even people whose lives are entirely different. The details of these different lives take many forms, but the love underlying both of these families makes them much more similar than they are different. The center of this book is family love, and the many important connections we share with the family we live with. Even in strife, this book shows, love provides a literal support.

Expressively illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Jason Griffin, the story is deeply personal to coauthors Wiley Blevins, raised in West Virginia, and Winsome Bingham, who immigrated as a child from Jamaica to the U.S. South.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Genres: Picture Books, Family, Childrens, Poverty, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Realistic Fiction

Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2024

About the author

Wiley Blevins is an American author and educator whose work has had a lasting impact on early literacy and children’s publishing. He began his career as a classroom teacher in the United States and Ecuador before moving into educational publishing, where he spent more than two decades writing and editing reading programs for elementary schools. A specialist in phonics and literacy instruction, he has written numerous books for young readers as well as influential guides for teachers. Blevins has also held senior roles in major publishing houses, most recently serving as Senior Vice President and Associate Publisher at Reycraft Books, a children’s imprint dedicated to authors and illustrators from under-represented communities. Based in New York City since 1995, he continues to write, teach, and consult while pursuing a lifelong passion for travel. His work reflects his commitment to helping children become confident readers and to supporting teachers with practical, classroom-tested materials.

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Jason Reynolds recommendation that brought tears to my eyes. Beautiful story and illustrations.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two families sit around an old table in two different situations, the world turns, children eat, and families cope. Much like Joy Harjo’s poem, “Perhaps the World Ends Here,” everything revolves around a rectangle of wood where families congregate. This picture book is a look into the world of the poor Southern family, a fairly invisible group of people, and how their lives are lived around a kitchen table. When something happens and the table moves on to another family, we get a glimpse into a family of color; this family also enjoys the hearty wood and the light that dances on the table. Done in layered multi-media art, Griffin’s illustrations are gloriously scrappy, capturing the grain and the hands and the light as the table as the main character. This book is a lovely reminder that we all eat, we all communicate, we all gather around a table, and most of all, we are all human. I love this book!

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for this ARC.

[Ann Haefele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect book that brought tears to my eyes. Think of all that our kitchen tables “see” of family life. This is all brought to the story with very simple text and gorgeous detailed mix media illustrations. It has to be a Caldecott contender.
Students could write about their kitchen table after hearing this story.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpected favorite!
Before opening the book I asked my 6 yo what she thought the plot would be … “I’m not sure - there’s just a table outside”.
Amazing conversations were prompted as we weaved our way through the stories built around the table. Bravo!

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caldecott contender.

[Angela De Groot · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything about this picture book. I experienced a gamut of emotions as I paged through the story of two families and one table. The art is stunning and the text poignant and thought-provoking.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is finw for adults but I don’t find the kid appeal.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you grew up, or perhaps when one of your parents grew up, was there a 'family' table that people treasured, making many memories there, at mealtimes, at big gatherings, or at the regular ones? It seems to be what many remember! This book, written by Wiley Blevins, raised in West Virginia, and Winsome Bingham, who immigrated as a child from Jamaica to the U.S. South, shows the joys and sorrows that happen around one table. For a long time at the table, a coal-mining family sits and eats, dyes Easter eggs, sews, and laughs, living their lives. Though they aren't rich with money, they are rich with love. Then, coal mines begin to close, and still, the bills arrive. The family must leave their home–and the table.
Later, a second family, driving home, spot a table (see that cover!). The father is a carpenter, brakes fast, and jumps out to examine it, sees that it's a special piece of wood, well made. The memories begin again, as you can imagine, and one child wonders if sometimes, in the past, another child sat at the table. The table remembers! And Jason Griffin's illustrations show this history with loving expression. There are very personal letters from the authors and Griffin at the end.
What a wonderful thing it could be to have students write of personal memories at their tables! My brother uses our grandmother's beautiful round oak table, and he and I, along with our cousins, all have memories of sitting there for holidays or summer visits, doing projects!
Lives may vary, but no matter those differences, there is much that is similar within all of us, the love in families, sharing the time together, often around a table!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book. Parts of it left me breathless. The simplicity of the text is rich with deep emotion as the reader experiences a family's connections that take place at the kitchen table. Each of the first few spreads is a different vignette that shows the importance of the table to the family's interactions. Through these moments, we see the love and traditions of the family, as well as their hardships, and, ultimately, their need to move on, leaving the table behind. Then we meet another family, one that picks up this table at the side of the road. This next section of the story is not as rich as the first. We don't get to know this family as well as it uses the table for its own activities. But in the end, we focus on the similarities, the connectedness of people, regardless of origins or wealth, or experiences. The choice of the illustrator to not show any of the people's faces strangely serves to bring the reader even closer into the intimacy of the families shown. We see their hands on the table from the edges of the pages, and it feels like our own hands are reaching into the story. Beautiful.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, if these walls could talk, the stories they would tell. Well, this thoughtful picture book is about two families with a table as the common denominator. The story is told with strips of paper placed on the table that record snippets of conversations that took place around the table. The first owners are a multigenerational family of coal miners and the family is forced to move when the father loses his job. They can fit everyone and everything at their new place except the table. So they leave it on the side of the road where it is found by a new family. The father is a carpenter and he appreciates that it is a good table. The text and illustrations work well to tell a sensitive story of how much is shared even though so much is different. A truly lovely picture book!

"I imagine a story only a table could tell."

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two different families and one table. The stories that table could tell. Stories of dinners, families, sickness, fun, etc. Overall, this is a cool story about how the objects that surround us on a daily basis (like a kitchen table) could tell the story of our lives and hold all of our most precious and sometimes hard memories. Having said all of that, this book may be a bit too much for a K-3rd grade reader to follow and understand. I think that adults will find more appeal in this book. I do feel like this book will get lots of other award-attention. The way the illustrations were done was genius! Mixed media that gives off a very powerful message with every turn of the page. (Diamond 25-26)

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost feel like this is a picture book for adults. It's a story of two families told through the view of a table. We only see the hands of each family member, but we can learn alot about each one through the actions and things they do on the table. The story is about how all families come to tables to eat, play, have conversations, gather, hope, dream and love. It's about the things we have in common more than the ways we are different. The collage illustration and way the text is hand written on slips of paper add to the idea that this book was also crated at a kitchen table, by hand like those in the book.

[Holly Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much in this picture book. Two families lives revolve around a table. The table tells the story of how a family in Appalachia struggles to pay bills when the mines close and eventually have to move leaving the table behind...for another family to find it an make it central to their building a new life together in story.

What I like most about it is that you have to make inferences throughout the book. It would be a great way to teach inference. And thinking. You need the words and the pictures and then some time to think what is means. Really well done.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful story of two families. We meet the first as they share joy, laughter, love and illness in their home. So much of their life is spent at the table. Then the father loses their job and they move to a smaller place. The table will not fit so they leave it at the side of the road. I appreciate the powerful illustration of the two families in their cars heading in opposite directions. The new family finds the table and brings it in to use in their new home. Observant readers will notice the similarities and changes in how the table is used. Definitely a make you think story.

[J.C. Kato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Families. This is a picture book that will be read to my granddaughter many times. When an amazing, award-winning illustrator, Jason Griffin and amazing award-winning authors like Winsome Bingham and Wiley Blevins collaborate, it’s not surprising that the product would be anything but amazing. The writing shimmers family life on every page. The illustrations champion simple moments. Together they cleverly express the strength of all families.

[Susan Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I tend to anthropomorphize household objects, I am very appreciative of this beautiful story of a table which remembers its place and importance with two families. Being the kitchen table, of course it is central to family activities, traditions and celebrations. This story reflects the experiences of its two authors and illustrator and carries strong truth about families and lifelong possessions.

[Connie T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The kitchen table is the focus of many family activities. In this picture book, a table is owned by a coal mining family. Meemaw makes biscuits for dinner, Mama sews Sis's dress, and Easter eggs are dyed. When the father loses his job, the family falls on hard times and have to move, leaving their table behind. However another family finds the table and brings it home, giving it a second life and new adventures.

[Rebecca]

Beautiful writing which do an excellent job of painting a full picture of these 2 families with very few (but effective) words. I appreciated the representation of a family who is financially challenged but is also fleshed out beyond just that one defining feature- there's laughter, generosity, creativity, sadness. The design choice to have the text hand-written on slips of paper give the book a personal and intimate feeling, which suited the story well.

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impressive! The story of how a table is the center of family life in an Appalachian family, who lose their home, but another family finds the table and wonder about the stories it could tell.

Touching notes by the two authors and the illustrator. Talk about the need for representation, feeling embarrassed about where he was from and the idea of what people share - family, love, laughter, meals around a table.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of two Appalachian families is told through the lens of a kitchen table. The first family, a coal mining family including a set of grandparents, lose their home when the father loses his job. The table is too big to travel with them so it is left by the side of the road. That is where the second family, an African-American family, find it and take it home as their "new" dining table.

Two families, similar experiences, one table.

[Dylan Teut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, timeless, stunning, profound- Ripe with opportunities for discussion and opportunities for teachers to encourage readers to tell the story of similar furniture which seems tarnished, but beneath the surface is home to a host of stories and memories- some good; some bad. I can't wait to use this book with young readers.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mining family and then a black family. Their connection is the table left behind. We learn three lessons . . .
1. Representation matters.
2. We may not have much, but giving matters.
3. Connection matters.
Winsome Bingham has paired with Wiley Blevins, to write this beautiful story, and the artwork by Jason Griffin, pulls all of the lessons together.

[Terresa Wellborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book pays homage to a family's kitchen table, sharing the passage of time from the table's perspective including holidays, and a wedding, and a move that leaves the table by the side of the road. Does the table find a new home? If so, what is that home like? You'll have to read it and see.

Themes: family, tables
Ages: 2-5th+ grade
Pub year: 2024

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mining family and then a black family. Their connection is the table left behind. We learned three lesson lessons:
1. Representation matters.
2. We may not have much, but giving matters.
3. Connection matters.
Winsome Bingham has paired with Wiley Blevins, to write this beautiful story, and the artwork by Jason Griffin, pulls all of the lessons together.

[Holly Mueller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a unique book! Two stories in one - all centered around a kitchen table. Kitchen tables really are the center of a home and family. So many memories are made around them. So much to talk about in this book, and I can imagine inviting children to write about their own kitchen tables.

[Tracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet, lyrical story.

When times get hard, a mining family in Appalachia leaves their beloved home (and the table that seen them through many changes) behind, but find a new table that helps them build new memories and connects them to a community of families living, loving and growing.

[Andi Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most beautiful and gut punch of a book. I’ve loved Jason Griffin’s illustrations since I’d read Ain’t Burned All The Bright, and they’re so emotional here as well. Nothing I say could convey all the feelings here…

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the spirit of Emily Jenkins’ A Fine Dessert, a quiet celebration of the daily lives of families and the things that hold those memories. Could be used to launch a conversation on storytelling or making sun prints, or a host of other activities.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two different families around the same table at different times. Really distinct stories, language (from the two authors!), and text styling for the two families, but the point is how much is the same.

[Tina Hoggatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winsome Bingha, and Wiley Blevins have written a twice told tale that reflects back on itself, and Jason Griffon has made free to celebrate the dialogue and focus on the titular table in his illustration, as impressionistic and experimental as the text. I'll be thinking about this one.