I Need All of It

K-Gr 2—On laundry day, Jim's dad finds a key, a button, and a stone in Jim's pants pocket. Jim insists that the objects are worth saving and tells of their fantastical origins. (The key locks up an evil wizard's magic, the button belongs on a brave sea captain's jacket, and the stone is a mountaintop bitten off by a disgruntled giant.) The exchanges between Jim and his father are often depicted in secondary colors and set against a white background. The more detailed imagination sequences are filled with various colors. Whenever a make-believe tale shares a spread with Jim and his father, the scene spills into the edges of the white background as if Jim's inventiveness can't be contained. Parents will relate to the idea of creative children finding value in mundane items. Jim's stories are fun and portrayed beautifully, although he never articulates why he needs the objects. At the end, when his father tries to join in the fun by wondering about the magical background of a paper clip, Jim cuts off the game to privately examine his treasures.