My sister and I both fell in love with all of John Goodall's little books as children. This, as well as most of his others, feature beautiful Victorian illusrations (though not at all fussy) of animals getting into mischief and interesting situations. The best part of these is that every other page is cut in half, so when you flip it over it forms a new illustration (hard to describe, but the effect is wonderful). Also these books are wordless, so my three-year old as well as his eight-year old cousin both enjoy these. This book tends to be a bit more feminine, as is Naughty Nancy. For boys and girls both I highly recommend the Creepy Castle, or any of the Paddy books (all by this author).

I had this book as a child and it was my absolute favorite. The illustrations are beautiful, and because there are no words, the parent can make up a story. Later, the child can start making up his own version. I think it's great for building a child's imagination