Behind the Scenes: The Table

A Q&A between Taylor and coauthors of The Table, Winsome Bingham and Wiley Blevins

TAYLOR: Winsome Bingham and Wiley Blevins, your new book The Table is a unique story of two families whose lives are different but similar—and the way one table connects them. What inspired you to tell this story—and why choose this approach, an object rather than a human character?

WINSOME: I am an advocate for empowerment and purpose. In children’s books, we tend to write stories so children can understand who they are as a person, as one being. But they can also learn from inanimate objects like this table in The Table.

This book is about purpose. Everything has a purpose. Every child, animal, living and nonliving thing has a purpose. For this table, it is to bring people together. It is to provide a space where families spend time together, and share food and conversations and games together.

The inspiration came from Wiley and I noticing a similar spread in two different books, illustrated by two different artists. In both books, the table had agency. And from there, we brainstormed what story that table would tell.

WILEY: One day, Winsome and I were talking about all the family events that occur around a kitchen table—how it bears witness to so many conversations and happenings. We wondered, “What if a table could talk? What stories would it tell? What secrets would our childhood tables reveal?” That was the spark for this book. If felt different from any other book we had read.

TAYLOR: Wiley, I know the physical setting of this book is so important to you. Why did you choose to set this story in Appalachia, and what was important for you to convey about this place to young readers?

WILEY: Readers from rural communities, especially poor rural communities, are largely invisible in children’s literature. I come from such a community in Appalachia (West Virginia). I never saw books that felt like “home” to me as a child, so I wanted to write something that would honor the beauty and dignity and decency in the lives of children from communities like the one I grew up in.

TAYLOR: The table is the physical thing that connects the two families in your story. What prompted you to choose a table to show this connection, as opposed to another object? What does a table represent to you?

WINSOME: A table represents a lot for me. It represents a sense of purpose, placement, and proximity. We understand why it is there and what it is meant to do (purpose). We understand where it goes (placement). And we understand its use of space and how it relates to family in their place (proximity).

Whenever my friends come over, we all pass through the living room and head straight to the dining room to sit at the table. I always notice that my friends will sit in the same seat each time they visit.

WILEY: Winsome and I have wanted to write a book together for quite some time. So when the idea came to us, it just felt right. We had read several recent books about family gatherings, such as Winsome’s amazing Soul Food Sunday, that featured scenes in kitchens with people gathered around tables. We just took that concept one step further and told the story from the table’s perspective because it felt unique and intriguing to us. The ideas just began to flow like spilled milk on a plastic tablecloth. And, in today’s divisive world, showing how families from different racial backgrounds are more similar than different was something that emerged organically during the writing process, but ended up being very important to us in our storytelling.

TAYLOR: Winsome, in the back matter, you mention so many important themes that resonate throughout this book: family, kindness, traditions, sharing, and strength. How do the text and art work together—as opposed to separately—to convey those themes?

WINSOME: This picture book is the perfect marriage of text and art and here is why: this book is about THE TABLE. Therefore, the table is the protagonist, the main character, the object of agency and autonomy. We can see the love for the table by the families in their treatment of it. Jason Griffin shows us how it is being used by one family. And how it is being restored by the other.

In the first family, it is the center of their lives and building memories. It was at that table that the child taught the grandmother how to read (which is one of my favorite scenes in the book). The family pays bills while still finding food to share with the poor as if they aren’t poor themselves. They color eggs and sew. All these things are happening in one place. This is the proximity I referred to early on. The table has a purpose of being the central point of interaction for both families.

The second family finds it and restores it. But they use it as well. Now they are creating their own memories. And we can tell they plan to have it for a long time because of how they are caring for it and making use of it. I love this book!