Kids get attached to some weird things. When my brother was little, his favorite toy was a neon-green toothbrush holder: his "lightsaber." And our blogger Kori's daughter was once obsessed with a sweet potato she named Ryan. That unique kind of object love is the inspiration for the delightful new book Mary Had a Little Lamp (Bloomsbury, 2008).

Written by Jack Lechner (in the cadence and rhyme scheme of "Mary Had a Little Lamb") and illustrated by The New Yorker's Bob Staake, the book describes little Mary's peculiar attachment to a desk lamp: she takes it for walks, sleeps with it, and brings it to the circus. Her parents and friends are baffled -- until one day, just like that, Mary moves on. As a cartoonist, illustrator Staake is a master of funny facial expressions, and his gaudily colored illustrations -- paired with Lechner's wonderfully silly premise -- really set this book apart. Give it your child when he develops a sudden strange obsession with a spatula. -- Gwynne Watkins

Mary Had a Little Lamp, $10.85 on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.