Title: The Table Where Rich People Sit
Author/Illustrator: Byrd Baylor
Reviewer: Clint Carter [blog: falldusk.blogspot.com]
A young girl living in the desert questions her parents regarding the amount of money they make and is growing concerned as she becomes aware that they will never be wealthy. In reply, her parents ask her to keep tab on the value found in the beauty that surrounds them.Check out The Table Where Rich People Sit or other Byrd Baylor titles at Amazon or, especially given the theme, at your local library.This is done with beautiful prose as the parents, the young girl, and her brother recount and add a price to all the wonderful things they experience living in the Arizona desert. A night under the stars: $1000.00, waking in the morning to the call of Gambleís quail: $100.00, etcÖ Needless to say, the girl realizes they are amongst the richest people in the world.
Beautiful writing supported by wonderful artwork, highly recommended for parents wishing to instill value in nature and a non-consumer lifestyle.
As I grew up a poor AZ farm boy, I never had a taste for my grocery store shoes or my blue and orange pinstripe suit sewn by mom with its one sleeve slightly longer than the other and collar that never sat right, this book brings back wonderful memories. Itís a bit crunchy, but my family and I love it along with any other books written by Byrd Baylor.
I wholeheartedly second this recommendation.
I had seriously considered suggesting it as well, but I worried that it tilted a bit older than the rest of the book recommendations you've posted.
This book is absolutely wonderful. Even my husband, who is suspicious of anything that sounds as if it might be too "precious, cloying, or preachy" thinks that this one is absolutely wonderful.
We've had it for years, and my now seven-year-old son still pulls it off the (very full) bookshelves often.