Toby Speed

"These poetic riddles in lyrical language take a little girl from dawn to evening . . . . Delicate watercolors drench these seven watery puzzlers with a pleasing balance of word and picture followed by the solution depicted across the next double-page spread. The combination of adroit textual clues . . . and winsome visual allusions won't do anything to dampen young imaginations." -The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (Recommended)

"Every riddle is a satisfying mix of brainteaser and giveaway, abetted by Downing's guileless watercolors." -Kirkus Reviews

"The poems . . . beautifully express the capricious nature of water." -Booklist

Everyone likes to see a beautiful rainbow in the sky after a rainstorm. Here's an easy way you can make a rainbow on a sunny day:

THREE EASY STEPS:
1. Fill a small bowl with water and place in a sunny spot.
2. Put a small mirror into the bowl so that it leans against the side. Let the sun shine onto the mirror.
3. Hold a piece of paper so that the sun shining on the mirror reflects onto the paper. You will see a rainbow on the paper.

"When your smile is dozy drowsy
and your eyelids buttered with sleep,
when the moon curls up
like a cat in your quilt
and all the shooing wind shivers away
and the streetlamps wear halos
and moths tap their secret codes
on screens
and stars wink
and the curtains spread their wings
and try to fly,
I drift down from the sky and lick the grass.
Who am I?
I am Dew.
In the morning I'll be gone."


Dew is just one of the voices water has in my book, WATER VOICES. There are six more. But Dew was the first one I wrote. My first words were "eyelids buttered with sleep." I liked the way they sounded and the gentle feeling they gave me, so I wrote some more.

If someone gave me a topic and told me I could write either a poem or a story about it, I would pick the poem. Part of the reason is that I enjoy fitting words together. And part of it is that I like to write short! That's why picture books are so much fun.

You can find this book in the library.