I’d be willing to put money on the fact that children’s author and artist Nina Crews has two young boys of her own, or at least close to her in some way. Only a person with proximity to young boys could have so perfectly captured the innocent, adventure-loving quality of young Jack and his plastic playmate Guy.

Sky-High Guy is a intensely colorful and engaging children’s picture book depicting Jack, his buddy Guy (a 3-inch tall Playskool plastic figure), and his brother Gus who never leave their own backyard but still manage to have perfect boy-like adventures on an island hunting dinosaurs, in a forested jungle, and skydiving above fields, beaches and crowded city streets. When Guy gets caught in a tree, the real adventure is on. Using realistic photos with the added element of collage, Crews creates a beautiful color-saturated rendition of her spot-on boy adventure story. This is a perfect gift for the young guys in your life, and will undoubtedly spur many real life adventures of the sort that only children can imagine. ~Wendee