Another Important Book

The companion title to Goodnight Moon creator Margaret Wise Brown's 1949 classic, The Important Book, was published for the first time in 1999, with wonderful illustrations by Caldecott Honor recipient Chris Raschka of Yo! Yes? "Yo, yes!" we say. Just as Brown's first volume distills the essence of everyday entities, this splendid rhyming picture book zeroes in on the most important things about being one, two, three, four, five, and six years old.

The important thing about being Four/ is that you are bigger than you were before..../ You can blink and think/ as quick as a wink./ You can open your eyes/ to a world of surprise.

Children love the process of reaching each new year's landmark, and this whimsical equivalent of a wall-notch height chart will thoroughly delight them. It is difficult to imagine the book without Raschka's wriggling, singing, flinging babies, toddlers, and kids of all colors, exquisitely crafted with vivacious brushstrokes and vibrant watercolors. He has also cleverly woven numbers into his illustrations--a five-pointed star behind the five-year-old, a pinwheel of six circles behind the six-year-old. The splashy modern artwork rejuvenates Brown's half-a-century-old rhymes, plants them squarely in 1999, and guarantees a future classic. (Click to see a sample spread. Text copyright 1999 by Roberta Brown Rauch. Illustrations copyright 1999 by Chris Raschka. Permission of Joanna Cotler Books, HarperCollins Publishers.) (Baby to age 6) --Karin Snelson