This is certainly one of those books that should and will cause the reader, both child and adult, to stop for a moment of reflection. The question here is asked, in a thoughtful, yet mellow way, just what in life is truly important and by inference, what is not. Every so often we adults need to take to take inventory and what a better way to do it than with your child?
This is the story of a little girl; "Mountain Girl," whose parents live in and near the mountains in the South West part of our country. They live a very simple existence, raise their own foods, train horses and do what ever other job comes along...but it MUST be outdoors; they MUST be able to work and live under the open sky! The little girl in our story notices that there are patches on her little brothers pants, that their house is not very nice, their table is hand made and rather run down and their entire image is that of being "poor." During a family meeting she brings this subject up and asked the question "why are we poor." It should be noted at this point that this so called poverty her parents have placed them in is a self imposed poverty; and as the story progresses the question is asked, and answered I might add, as to whether or not the family is indeed poor. Of course each adult and child must answer this question for themselves, but I must say the answer was easy for me to come to as I am a bit like the parents in this story anyway.
What price do you place on a sunset, the image of an eagles nest, listening to the coyotes speak at night, watching an eagle soar, seeing a cactus bloom from bud to finished flower, to hear the wind speaking through the rocks and sand...in general, to have the freedom from the drudgery of working in an office cubicle day after day and chasing after "things?" Is a new cell phone actually more valuable than wildflowers in spring? Are fancy shoes, T.V. sets, expensive cars and the other "things" many of us send a life time chasing more valuable that what there is available to us completely free of charge? We are forced to examine the phenomena of "The Great American Thing Hunt."
The family set around this old table and as I said, takes inventory of their lives with their children, actually putting an arbitrary price tag on all of the things they have.
Now I note that there are a couple of reviewers that have chalked this one up to a short children's story about a family of sort of wacked out hippies...you know, those "back to the land and to heck with civilization" type individuals. No, no, no...this story is about so much more than that. Yes, the author has used a unique set of parents to tell this tale, but the sunsets, natural wonders and simple life are actually available to everyone on one level or another. The message here is that these wonderful things exists and are free for all who want to take advantage of them.
The story is well written, precise and extremely thoughtful. It truly will make you stop and think where you are in your life and where you want to take it in the future. It causes you to ask yourself and ask your children some soul searching questions and in reality sort of puts things in perspective. While the absolute life style these characters have chosen may not be for everyone, never the less the concepts addressed here are certainly worth considering.
With out question the art and illustrations in this work are some of the best. The flaming almost surreal style and colors take a bit to wrap your mind around at first, but after giving them a close look, you will find yourself completely dazzled and amazed. I suppose "haunting" Is the best way to describe the illustrations.
Now even those children growing up in an urban area can glean much from this book. Is an afternoon at a local park watching butterflies or feeding and watching ducks in a local pond worth as much as the cost of the newest video game or latest pair of tennis shoes...or is it worth more?
Highly recommend this one. It is at least worth checking out from your local library.
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
The Table Where Rich People Sit
- Accelerated Reading level : 4.3
- Paperback: 32 pages
- Publisher: Aladdin (July 1, 1998)
- ISBN-10: 0689820089
- See-a-Sample
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