The Top 10 Everything of 2009

My college professor, the late novelist Frederick Busch, always talked about the importance of perspective in creative writing. Well, here's the definitive picture-book primer on perspective. Each illustration when viewed from left to right is a rabbit. "Those are ears, silly," says the rabbit supporter. But look at the illo from right to left — and behold the duck! "See, there's his bill," counters the duck advocate. The illustrations are clean, without a wasted brushstroke. And just when the unseen combatants come around to the other's point of view, another ambiguous animal arrives on the scene — (spoiler alert!) "Hey, look! An anteater!" "That's no anteater. That's a brachiosaurus."