Picture Books: X is for Exceptional

 ...or, the only ones I could find.

Actually, I found more X illustrators and authors than the ones listed below, but a great number of them were attached to non-fiction books. I tried not to cheat during this list, so I stuck to the non-informational picture books that I could find.

The Little Stone Lion by Kim Xion

D is for Dragon Dance by Ring Chang Compestine, Illustrated by Yongheng Xuan

I enjoyed both books. The Little Stone Lion reports the perspective of the village's guardian spirit, the "only stone lion...[a]lthough I'm smaller than a cat."

The tone is gentle and whimsical. It captures the same aura of timeless lore that I intend to tackle in the next list: Fantasy Picture Books, A-Z. 

Considering the exceptionalism of "X," I may return to The Little Stone Lion. 

D is for Dragon Dance is, as might be inferred, one of the many alphabet books that inhabit the world of picture books from Richard Scarry to Edward Gorey. ABC books are ubiquitous--they are also surprisingly not as boring as they would seem and, in the case of Edward Gorey, can be downright hilarious. 

It helps if the ABC book has a focus, as D is for Dragon Dance does--namely, the Chinese New Year. 

The pictures are captivating, and the choices fascinating. Grandma, Grandpa, and Hair make an appearance, but so do Evil Spirits, Kites, Xylograph (hooray for not falling back on X-ray!), Zodiac, and, naturally....

Dragons!