The Table That Ran Away to the Woods

First published in Poland in 1963, the Themersons’ story is a back-to-nature tale in which Stefan Themerson’s writing table dashes out the door and races into the forest, where it takes root (“It grew higher and higher/ reaching up to the birds;/ and two branches appeared/ where I used to write words”). The story, an afterword explains, ties into the Themersons’ avant-garde filmmaking, writing, and artwork in the 1930s (an early version appeared in an expatriate newspaper published in Paris). Readers needn’t be familiar with the backstory to appreciate the collage-like images of the table scampering over hills and reclaiming its existence. Ages 5–7. (Sept.)