Based on the illustrations alone, my favorite picture book is The Polar Express. That book just makes my heart go weak. The imagery is amazing and makes the book seem even more magical than the words alone. My mother used to read that book every year at Christmas. It was the only time she would allow my sister and I to "skip" school--we stayed home to decorate Christmas trees, bake cookies, and "experience" the Polar Express. Because she was also a teacher, she knew how to make the experience of the book so amazing. We had to have hot chocolate and she would go through it three times---once reading it aloud and not showing us the pictures, once with us by her side, taking in the pictures and the words together, and on the last time, she would sit quietly as we retold the story by looking at the illustrations alone. This is definitely a tradition I would like to carry on with my future children, and it is one I carry out in my classroom every year!