Toys are us | The Week

Originally, Gabriele Galimberti was just going to photograph a girl who happened to be playing with her toys. But once the photographer laid the four-year-old's colorful plastic farm tools

around her, he saw potential. "Immediately," he says in his book's introduction, "there was something about the composition I liked."

Thus began a 30-month, 58-country tour photographing children and their favorite toys. The resulting book, Toy Stories: Photos of Children from Around the World and Their Favorite Things,

published by Abrams Image, reveals a great deal about the world's diverse socio-economic realties through an incredibly simple and inclusive subject. After all, who among us didn't have a

beloved plaything — or ten — growing up?

Here, a selection of Galimberti's sweet and fascinating photos.

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Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and

Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.