The Wanting Monster is one of my favorite books in the shop. It's philosophical and thought-provoking, and the illustrations are breathtaking. In an unusual twist, the monster is driven not by evil but by longing and shame, and he is restored by the simplest human gift: to be seen. At each age, a reader's understanding of the book will become deeper, richer. My five-year-old loves the story (and anything with monsters), and for me, it's profound — a meditation on envy and desire and on our relationship with the natural world.