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Tree, Table, Book by Lois Lowry was one of the most beautiful yet powerful books I have read in a very long time. Leave it to a masterfully talented author like Lois Lowry to create a friendship between an eleven year old girl and an eighty-eight year old woman. It was a friendship based on sincerity and love. I grew up reading Lois Lowry’s books and had recommended them to my students that I taught over the years but Tree, Table, Book was in a class of its own. Its message was compassionate and so powerful. I listened to the audiobook of Tree, Table, Book that was recorded as a voicegalley. I listened to it in one sitting since I was not able to pull myself away from it. It was tender, hopeful, sad and so meaningful.

Sophie Henry Winslow was an only child who grew up in a small town in New Hampshire. She was socially awkward and did not have many if any girlfriends from her school. Sophie was eleven years old which is an awkward time in any girl’s life but couple that with having to wear not so fashionable glasses and having to follow a very healthy yet strict diet of choice and you have the recipe for a life absent of any meaningful friendships. Sophie was unperturbed about this because her best friend lived right across the street from her. This friend did not attend her school, though. Sophie’s best friend was an eighty-eight year old woman named Sophie Gershowitz. The two Sophie’s enjoyed playing word games together, sipping tea in the older Sophie’s kitchen and talking about things they both found interesting.

One evening, Sophie Winslow overheard a conversation her parents were having about her best friend, Sophie Gershowitz. Apparently, the older Sophie’s son was growing concerned about his mother’s failing cognitive functioning. Sophie Gershowitz’s son was an accountant and lived in Akron, Ohio. He was planning on coming to New Hampshire to take his mother to be evaluated by a doctor. If the son’s suspicions were proven correct he planned on taking Sophie back to Ohio and placing her in a facility that would provide a safe place for Sophie to live and a place where she would be cared for. Young Sophie was not going to let that happen. Her friend was just fine. She was not going to allow anyone to take her best friend away from her.

The next day, Sophie Winslow got hold of a Merck Manual. In it she found the type of tests the doctor would conduct on Sophie. The older Sophie was able to ace many of the tests but there was one that proved quite difficult for her. It was impossible for the older Sophie to recall a combination of three words that the younger Sophie told her after a few minutes had lapsed. Young Sophie had an idea to help her friend remember those words and be able to recite the words back to her. Sophie Winslow believed that if older Sophie was able to associate a common word with a story or memory it was going to probably be easier for older Sophie to recall the words. Thus, young Sophie spoke the words tree, table, book and asked old Sophie to remember them. Young Sophie repeated the word tree and asked old Sophie to tell her a story about a tree she remembered. Sophie Winslow repeated this process with all three words. The stories that Sophie Gershowitz shared with her young friend were about her childhood growing up in Poland and her family’s experiences during World War II. Young Sophie learned so much about her best friend that day.

Tree, Table, Book by Lois Lowry was classified as a middle grade book but I believe that adults, (including myself) will enjoy it just as much. I admit that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. At first glance I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this book. It ended up being one of my favorite books that I have read so far this year. Tree, Table, Book gave a whole new definition to the meaning of friendship. It was about friendship above all but also about love, acceptance and sharing. I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook of Tree, Table, Book by Lois Lowry and highly recommend it.

Thank you to Harper Audio for allowing me to listen to Tree, Table, Book by Lois Lowry through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.