A picture book written for children but designed to speak equally to the adults who read it aloud - exploring belonging, love, compassion, and inclusion through rhyming verse. Appropriate for ages 4 and up.
A small town tucked between hills and hedges. A house with warm windows. A man who once stood outside rooms like this one - and built a table so no one else would have to.
The Table with Mismatched Chairs is a picture book for children and the adults who read to them. Written in rhyming verse, it follows a quiet, kind man who builds a wide wooden table and eight mismatched chairs - each one embodying a different posture of love: Love, Dignity, Compassion, Grace, Mercy, Faith, Truth, and Inclusion.
Each chair tells its own story. A candle that warms strangers into family. A cushion that offers rest without explanation. Bread broken and shared beyond the rules. A quilt stitched from old prayers and unanswered dreams. A folding chair - open, humble, ready - pulled out for the one who never thought to ask.
Together the chairs form a table where belonging is not earned but given, where sameness was never the goal, and where there is always room for one more.
Written in the tradition of Dr. Seuss but carrying the emotional weight of The Velveteen Rabbit, this book speaks to children in the language of story and to adults in the language of lived experience. It is for the weary traveler, the doubter, the outsider, the prodigal - and for anyone who has ever wondered whether the table was really for them.
It is.
The Table with Mismatched Chairs is the first book published by Mesa y Manos, an imprint dedicated to stories of belonging told in English and Spanish. It is written and illustrated by J.P. Ivie.
About the Author :
J.P. Ivie grew up moving. As the child of a military family, he was always the new one - arriving in rooms where everyone else already belonged, learning to read people quickly, and discovering early what it feels like to stand just outside. That experience never left him. It shaped how he designs, how he teaches, how he writes, and how he listens. Over the course of his career he has worked as a designer, teacher, writer, and mentor - always with the same instinct: make room, lower the barrier, help people understand without shame. This book grew from that instinct. Every chair at this table represents a truth that has carried him - through seasons of doubt, loss, and starting over. He built the table because he needed one. J.P. Ivie lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and writes at mesaymanos.com. J.P. Ivie grew up moving. As the child of a military family, he was always the new one - arriving in rooms where everyone else already belonged, learning to read people quickly, and discovering early what it feels like to stand just outside. That experience never left him. It shaped how he designs, how he teaches, how he writes, and how he listens. Over the course of his career he has worked as a designer, teacher, writer, and mentor - always with the same instinct: make room, lower the barrier, help people understand without shame. This book grew from that instinct. Every chair at this table represents a truth that has carried him - through seasons of doubt, loss, and starting over. He built the table because he needed one. J.P. Ivie lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and writes at mesaymanos.com.
