For younger kids (Ages 2 - 8) perhaps my favorite author/illustrator is Keiko Kasza. (Cynthia Rylant is also an excellent writer for kids but she doesn't do the illustrations too.) She has written and illustrated about ten books including The Rat and the Tiger, A Mother for Choco, Don't Laugh, Joe!,and her first book called The Wolf's Chicken Stew. Generally, when one person does both the writing and the illustrating one or the other is lacking. Not so with Keiko Kasza. The illustrations are top notch and the stories are great. They all have a bit of an underlying ethical theme. My favorite of the bunch is Grandpa Toad's Secrets because the 'secrets' are not only important but the story is quite funny.