The Sign Painter by Allen Say
The pictures in the book are typical Allen Say watercolor--beautiful. The story, however, made me go, "What the--." A kid is hired as a sign painter and is commissioned to paint billboards in the desert. One day he sees a giant roller coaster and an abandoned housing complex.

Stranger in the Mirror by Allen Say
One morning a kid wakes up and looks in the mirror to discover he's turned into a wrinkly old man. At school the other students tease and torment him. He still feels young though and decides to go skateboarding. Everyone is shocked to see an old man being so active.

Home of the Brave by Allen Say
On a rafting trip, a man ends up in the past at his grandfather's Japanese internment camp. The children he meets in camp long to go "home" but are instead stuck in the desert.