No paints, no pots, no jar of water going brown on the table. The book comes with its own bamboo brush. Load it with plain water, sweep it across the bold black and white design, and the color rises out of the page on its own. A three year old reads that as magic, and the adult in the room reads it as the tidiest painting session ever invented.

The pictures are farm ones, chosen for the age rather than for the parent: a sturdy tractor, a cheery scarecrow, a teeny cheepy chick, all drawn in thick simple lines that a small brush can actually stay inside. There is real hand control being built underneath the fun, because sweeping a loaded brush evenly is the same wrist movement that writing will need later on.

Thirty two pages of it, and it travels better than almost anything else you could hand over. Restaurants, long drives, waiting rooms, rainy afternoons. Everything it needs is tap water.