Our Table

In Reynolds’s characteristic ink-and-watercolor spreads, Violet, a brown-skinned girl with springy purple hair, mourns that the dining room table is no longer where her family congregates. Cheery, full-color scenes of the past shift to present-day monochromatic, purple-washed vignettes showing Violet’s parents and older brother now individually absorbed in their respective screens; the story takes a parable turn as Violet’s beloved table literally shrinks until it disappears. But the child isn’t going to take this sitting down: she smartly enlists family members in building a new table, meeting each where they are (“She asked her father to watch/ a show about carpentry together./ And they did”), and the drawings return to full color as the family joyfully gathers ’round again. An apropos reminder, especially pertinent for the holidays, of connections maintained through physical proximity. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)