My Friend The Starfinder by George Ella Lyon

Immediately after I finished reading this book I was positive that it had the my favorite illustrations of any picture book I have ever read. The illustrations are a joy to look at and I even went back through the book a couple of times looking at just the pictures without even reading any of the text. The illustrations are extremely colorful and rich, done in watercolors, and seem to be dripping off the page. However, there is some very nice contrast in the illustrations as well due to the fact that some of the illustrations are done in a very stark black and white watercolor theme. The story/narrative itself is a very touching story about a young girl who befriends her neighbor who is an old man and lives by himself. Interestingly, there is very little actual text in the book, and the story seems to revolve around the illustrations. Much of the text is extremely descriptive and rich though (i.e. "glassy, blackish green like puddles around a coal pile."). The story is very surreal and I would definitely classify this book as falling in the Science Fiction or Fantasy genre. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to any reader. Also, this book would be great for classrooms, where there seems to be a real shortage of Science Fiction and Fantasy books.