Imagination...

Shark vs.Train: by Chris Barton. Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
Duck! Rabbit!: by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, also illustrated by Lichtenheld.
The Secret Lives of Princesses: by Philippe Lechermier illustrated by Rébecca Dautremer
Owl at Home: written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel

I love Shark vs. Train! It's awesome! It's getting rave reviews ("not to be missed" -Washington Post, "A sure winner"-School Library Journal "This is a Genius Concept" -Publishers Weekly, etc...) because it does what a good children's book SHOULD do- it caters to the child. I have very little patience for any author who is clearly writing to please the parent and poorly coating their book with colors or cleverness to try and mask the fact that kids are not likely to be drawn in of their own accord.This book begins with two little boys holding a toy shark and then a toy train, but quickly goes directly into their richly shared imagination and depicts all the logic play/trash talk that kids are so great at. It's super fun.

The illustrator, Lichtonheld, has also collaborated on another bestseller called Duck! Rabbit! which also is a very simple yet genius concept in which a single little line drawing is debated over as to whether its a duck or a rabbit, etc. There is a great video of it here. Again, what I like is that there is no message to preach or overly clever character or concept to execute. It is a book purely about the power of the imagination.

An example of what I mean when I say some children's books seem to cater to an older audience is "The Secret Lives of Princesses", the lushly watercolored encyclopedia of/guide to Princesses, featuring several Princesses that have never had their stories told. Sumptuously, gorgeously, even dizzily illustrated by Rébecca Dautremer, the book is packed with cleverness... way too much of it, in crazy, ever-chaging, scrawling and sprawling and headache-inducing text. Even I as an adult felt fed up. To be fair, it does read well out loud.

 I do love these drawings!
Finally, I recently purchased for my own enjoyment in the comfort of my own home, the lovely collection of short little I Can Read stories titled "Owl at Home", by Arnold Lobel (also known for "Frog and Toad" and "Mouse Soup"...)

 Owl is so endearing it makes you want to cry. He hears the wind howling, so he invites Winter inside to warm itself by the fire. He sees two bumps at the bottom of his bed which move when he moves his feet, but looking under the covers all he sees are his own legs and feet, so terrified, he goes downstairs to sleep. He is at first flattered, then creeped out, then incredibly happy when the moon follows him from the seaside all the way home. And when making tearwater tea, he thinks of all the poor and forgotten inanimate objects, such as spoons that have fallen behind the stove, and it makes him weep. And so on. It warms me from the inside out. He is like a very, very young child with the sweetest and most vibrant child's imagination, but in that adorable little old-man-owl form.

Love!
Arla