The twenty-elephant restaurant by Russell Hoban illustrated by Quentin Blake

This seductive exercise in runaway absurdity 

starts out with a wobbly table ...

This gem of a book was first published in 1978.  I remember having a tiny copy from the Pocket Puffin series in my first school library.  I am glad to say this new copy, recently republished, is  much larger and so will be easier to read with a group.

Have you ever been sitting at a restaurant and noticed you table had a wobble. This book offers a solution.  Make a new table.  Make a table  that is "really strong. It's steady as a rock. No matchbooks under that table. Elephants could dance on that table."

Elephants.  More than one.  More tables are needed and elephants!  The solution - advertise.

This book is perfect to read aloud and the riotous scenes are bought to life by the perfect illustrations from Quentin Blake.