All Together Now: The Blue Table by Chris Raschka

It's a simple, bare, oval table and then a vase with one flower is added. And then a small glass of milk is added, for...

--A CHILD....

.... followed by a crayon, a piece of paper for drawing, and a glass of milk, all for one child.

And then the table has first one cup of coffee for one parent...

AND ANOTHER...

... an added parent and another cup of coffee, and a bowl of sugar for the coffee.

... A spot of breakfast and then the table is cleared for list-making. Something is underway.

Soon on the blue table are things...from the...

...GARDEN...

,,,Just-pulled carrots and just-dug potatoes are peeled and cut up, and then... more things, from the ...

...STORE...

A big meal is clearly underway as lemons and husks of corn and a turkey appear, hustled off to be cooked, succeeded by butter and apples from the farm being sliced up, and a just-rolled-out piecrust which follows. Someone fills the vase with fresh flowers, and the blue table is wiped clean and the extra leaf is inserted into the middle.

Clearly there are guests expected--as the table is set with sunny yellow plates, shiny cutlery, and a candelabra, and loaded with food and drink for what looks like a family of friends, as a special dinner gets underway around the blue table.The table is the center of the home in Chris Raschka's brand-new The Blue Table (Greenwillow Books, 2020).

Two-time Caldecott Award-winning artist Raschika knows how to say a lot with a little, in spare text in which his watercolor and collage illustrations speak volumes to young readers about family celebrations around an iconic table. Youngsters will enjoy deducing much about the diners from the things that appear on the table, evoking the deeper meaning of preparing a festive meal for another family around the table on those special times when we come together. Says Kirkus in a starred review, "A charming and cozy celebration of the places and routines that anchor and connect us.”