Melanie Heuiser Hill ampersand

author

Melanie Heuiser Hill

Melanie Heuiser Hill ampersand

author

Melanie Heuiser Hill

Around the Table That Grandad Built

Around the Table That Grandad Built

This is the table that Grandad built.
These are the sun­flow­ers picked by my cousins,
set on the table that Grandad built.

In a unique take on the cumu­la­tive clas­sic “This Is the House That Jack Built,” a fam­i­ly gath­ers with friends and neigh­bors to share a meal around a table that brims with asso­ci­a­tions: nap­kins sewn by Mom, glass­es from Mom and Dad’s wed­ding, sil­ver­ware gift­ed to Dad by his grand­ma long ago. Not to men­tion the squash from the gar­den, the bread baked by Gran, and the pies made by the young nar­ra­tor (with a lit­tle help). Serv­ing up a diverse array of dish­es and faces, this warm and wel­com­ing sto­ry is poised to become a savored part of Thanks­giv­ing tra­di­tions to come.

Around the Table That Grandad Built

For these hands we hold, for tasty good food, for fam­i­ly and friends,
for grace that is giv­en and love that is shared, we give thanks …

Awards and Recognition

Par­ents’ Choice rec­om­mend­ed title

Reviews

“A warm and wel­com­ing table.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“For those who love mul­ti­cul­tur­al and multi­gen­er­a­tional themes, Around the Table That Grandad Built is a won­der­ful addi­tion to the home library. Equal­ly important—especially in this day and age—are the oppor­tu­ni­ties the book pro­vides to talk about essen­tial val­ues. Thank­ful­ness, hard work, love, and self­less­ness can be dis­cussed any­time you’re around the table. Con­sid­er shar­ing for Thanks­giv­ing!” (Good Reads with Ron­na)

“The finale fea­tures pies, one of which the nar­ra­tor baked, and a lit­tle poem of grat­i­tude for ‘grace that is giv­en and love that is shared.’ The rhyth­mi­cal text and bright illus­tra­tions will enhance any Thanks­giv­ing or cel­e­bra­to­ry din­ner with fam­i­ly and friends.” (Wash­ing­ton Par­ent)

The Story Behind This Book

The first line of Joy Harjo’s poem, “Per­haps The World Ends Here” is a line that speaks to me at a deep level.

The world begins at a kitchen table. No mat­ter what, we must eat to live.

It was while mem­o­riz­ing this beau­ti­ful poem years ago that I wrote the ear­ly drafts of Around the Table That Grandad Built. I am a believ­er in the pow­er of shar­ing a meal, the impor­tance of kitchen tables, and the grace of gath­er­ing gen­er­a­tions of friends and fam­i­ly togeth­er with the excuse that we all need to eat. I’m with Har­jo that the kitchen table is where chil­dren are edu­cat­ed in what it means to be human—we absolute­ly make women and men as we pass dish­es around and but­ter the bread. I believe we humans need a place to sing with joy and sor­row, and to give thanks. A table is a good place to do that.

I love a well-set table. It doesn’t have to be fan­cy, but I like for there to be col­or, his­to­ry, and good food placed on the table before every­one sits down. I enjoy “dress­ing” the table with col­or­ful linens…arranging the dish­es and sil­ver­ware … plac­ing flow­ers just so … light­ing can­dles …. I enjoy qui­et din­ners with just one or two fel­low din­ers, and I enjoy more eclec­tic and bois­ter­ous meals where peo­ple are squished togeth­er around the table and every­one brings some­thing to share. What can I say? I come from a line of women who delight in dish­es and nap­kins and food and gath­er­ing every­one up.

It was a joy to watch artist Jaime Kim make the words of this book come alive in the illus­tra­tions. The table she drew looks very much like our family’s kitchen table, which she had no way of know­ing. She also could not have known how thrilled I’d be with the sec­ond to last spread—the table all set, seen from above, hands clasped around it, a feast ready to eat….

For these hands we hold,
for tasty good food,
for fam­i­ly and friends,
for grace that is giv­en
and love that is shared,
we give thanks….

As Har­jo says:
Per­haps the world will end at the kitchen table,
while we are laugh­ing and cry­ing, eat­ing of the last sweet bite.

May it be so, I say. May it be so.

Around the Table That Grandad Built

Melanie Heuis­er Hill
illus­trat­ed by Jaime Kim
Can­dlewick Press, 2019
ISBN 978–0‑7636–9784‑6

Buy the Book 

Read my Around the Table blog for sto­ries about tables, recipes, table graces, table set­tings, and more!

Enjoy this inter­view, look-behind-the-book, pho­tos, and recipe, all about the book, on Jama Rat­ti­gan’s blog.

Check out my rec­om­men­da­tions for “The Best Books about Shar­ing Food” for the Shep­herd website.