HEY WILLY, SEE THE PYRAMIDS

This one is far, far out, but has a heart of gold: its premise is a sister who patiently tells stories to the little brother who wakes her in the middle of the night—not a million stories, but more than the five he originally bargains for. The stories are very brief, contain characters from the children's family, and make sense in the way that images sliding across the mind as you fall asleep make sense. (One entire story—"green face": "My cousin Ervin has a green face and orange hair. He is a scientist and he told me about germs and about something that is called nothing. His mother has very small ears but she hears everything.") The illustrations are child-like, imaginative, and surreal; their swell, bright colors contrast with the white text on black pages where the kids talk and finally "both sink in/and see flying chairs/and green hats/and pink things/and sink some and/slowly sink/into sleep." Outlandish, but born of genuine creativity and understanding. Try it.