Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 10/15/2024 *Starred Review* Two families, two homes, two stories, one table. Set amid the sweeping hills and meadows of Appalachia, The Table begins in the home of a coal-mining family. In the kitchen, the table bears witness to the everyday joys and sorrows of the family: painting Easter eggs, sewing a church dress, learning to read, sorting bills that can be paid from those that must wait. When the family loses their home and is forced to move to a smaller one, the table is abandoned under a tree. Another family soon rescues it, and the old table becomes a new table in a home that is similarly filled with discipline, love, traditions, and gratitude. Told through poetic text and gorgeous multimedia illustrations that show hands, shoulders, the dog’s whiskers, a beam of light, this book contains a simple message: we are more similar than different. Sparse, precise lines of text are scrawled on collage strips over the surface of the tabletop, which is also often the background of the pages. Pale-skinned hands and dark-skinned hands denote a racial difference between the families, highlighting, by contrast, their similarities. A beautiful allegory that will stand the test of time and be enjoyed by readers young and old alike. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.