The Table Where Rich People Sit (1994)

The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor (1994) causes me to pause and reflect upon the tangible and intangible in my life. The narrator is a young girl who’s called a family meeting to talk about how little money they have. She wonders why her father doesn’t “notice my worn-out shoes” or that “my little brother has patches on the pants he wears to first grade.” They sit at a handmade table made from discarded lumber as she challenges them to get better jobs. Her parents pan for gold “in the rocky desert hills or back in some narrow mountain gully where all the roads are just coyote trails.” Her parents suggest she write down the value of the things in their lives. Watching sunsets, hiking, and looking for eagle nests is worth twenty thousand dollars. Hearing coyotes howl is worth another ten thousand. And so it goes. Their lifestyle adds up exponentially. This is a book to ignite conversation, for sure. Peter Parnell’s unique illustrations are well suited to this story. They are abstract and breathtaking.