February 26, 2024
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.
March 1, 2024
The main table in a home is often where memories are made. Killian's debut picture book explores this table's many roles in one family's life. The easy-to-read story starts where a wooden table begins: "as a seed that grew into a great strong tree." The tree is felled, taken to a workshop, and carefully crafted. The top is sanded, legs attached. The wood is stained, sealed, and set to dry. The family places the table "in the middle of a house, and life grew up around it." Smart's watercolor illustrations add to the story with playful and inventive scenes. The number of people grows and shrinks, and scenes evolve from the quiet act of arranging flowers to a birthday party spilling over with family and friends. Their table is filled to overflowing with the chaos of an unfolded map, children's drawings, and more. A clean, empty table shown near the end prompts discussion about readers' own experiences around family tables. The story concludes where it started: "This table began as a seed and became the heart of someone's home." Joan Yolleck
(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
April 15, 2024
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. (Picture book. 4-7)
COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
May 15, 2024
Preschool-Grade 2 This is an ode to all the things a table comes to mean for a family. The storytelling style will allow young readers to actively participate in creating the narrative, as some of the details aren't set in stone--one set of pages explains that a tree that becomes this important piece of furniture could have been "felled by a lumberjack, a lightning strike, or maybe a windstorm." As the book explores the many things a family table has been turned into for years--from a place to have a snack, put a birthday cake, or hold up a corner of a fort--it also nods to some more modern uses of the family table, like "an office . . . or a studio." The book will draw readers in by reminding them of all the memories they've built around their table, while also introducing ideas about the origins of things that may seem like permanent fixtures in their world.
COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Starred review from June 28, 2024
PreS-Gr 2-"This table began as a seed and grew into a great strong tree." With those words, this book ushers readers into the beginning of a mighty saga. It's not just a linear life cycle of how this table comes into being, although it does that process incredibly well, giving it thought and heft in each step of creation. No, this book is an explosion of possibilities. It tracks not the life, but the many lives a table can inhibit through the years. One multigenerational and multiethnic family shows their rich existence, working and playing hard at this centerpiece of their home. The illustrations, strong and simple, depict the deep joy around an inclusive family table. Every page bursts with color and delicately lined details. Here, children's drawings surround a window with a bird's nest outside. There, dropped papers and toy towns grace the corner. It culminates in an ending scene where framed photos of moments from the previous pages remind the inhabitants-and readers-of the beautiful moments created not just by the table, but by those we love. VERDICT A diverse treatise on connection, clear enough for a preschooler but poignant enough for older children and even adults.-Cat McCarrey
Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2024
The main table in a home is often where memories are made. Killian's debut picture book explores this table's many roles in one family's life. The easy-to-read story starts where a wooden table begins: "as a seed that grew into a great strong tree." The tree is felled, taken to a workshop, and carefully crafted. The top is sanded, legs attached. The wood is stained, sealed, and set to dry. The family places the table "in the middle of a house, and life grew up around it." Smart's watercolor illustrations add to the story with playful and inventive scenes. The number of people grows and shrinks, and scenes evolve from the quiet act of arranging flowers to a birthday party spilling over with family and friends. Their table is filled to overflowing with the chaos of an unfolded map, children's drawings, and more. A clean, empty table shown near the end prompts discussion about readers' own experiences around family tables. The story concludes where it started: "This table began as a seed and became the heart of someone's home."
(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)