The last three books I finished reading were all children's books. Nothing like a good picture book to bring in a bit of cheer. All of these have wonderful illustrations, creative and bright. Some of the pictures are very thoughtful and deep.

The first is about a tortoise and a hare, the tortoise calm and deliberate, the hare 'hurry hurry' and quick-minded. The story's brief, but the illustrations of fields and critters held my attention for quite some time (and inspired me to write about dandelions the other day). They're simple, gently humorous, carefully detailed, and beautiful. The next book was about a rabbit who is a magician's assistant. He gets lost in the city during a street show. These pictures really capture the feel of a city at all times of day - the buildings, streets, sidewalks, alleys and bits of park here and there. The city people - say in the transit tunnel - are interesting - human but respectfully distant at the same time, just like city folk tend to be. And the sketch of the magician's den at the beginning of the story, filled with fascinating clutter, is just as entertaining as the the first pictures of field in the tortoise-hare book.

The last picture book that I just finished right here just now is about an awkward click beetle. The author's colorful use of mixed media is gorgeous. There's a picture of two beetles, a tree, a crescent moon and crazy stars that would look great on my wall. The picture of giant loafer-clad feet approaching a beetle on its back is very scary indeed.

Hurry Up and Slow Down by Layn Marlow 2009
The Magic Rabbit by Annette LeBlanc Cate 2007
The Very Clumsy Click Beetle by Eric Carle 1999