Toby Speed

Most stories about leaves begin in spring when they are little buds. The buds unfold, all greeny-yellow. They grow to full size and turn a deeper green. When autumn comes, they turn orange, red or brown. They fall off the tree and blow away.

And that's the end of the story. Most of the time.

ONE LEAF FELL begins where those stories end: after the leaf falls. Really, if you think about it, that is the beginning of all great leaf adventures!

This leaf sails down a river carrying beetles and becomes a drinking cup for a horse. A rabbit hides under it. A sparrow uses it for her nest. A whole year goes by for the leaf, until it is time once again for leaves to fall.

I got the idea for this story one November day when I was walking near my house. The leaves were racing down the block ahead of me, trying to see who could get to the corner first. They made a nice, crunchy, whooshy noise. It looked like they were having fun.

Later on I drove to a shopping center in my car. A lot of leaves were swirling around in a corner of the parking lot. It looked like they were doing the tarantella, which is a very fast dance done in a circle.

I thought about the leaves a lot. Later on I wrote the story in about a half hour. It was the quickest story I ever wrote.

The artist for ONE LEAF FELL, Minerva McIntyre, is a fine artist who exhibits her paintings around the world. This was her first picture book. If you can find a copy of this book in your library, you will see that the illustrations are beautiful paintings of all kinds of leaves and flowers. The illustrator told me that her Dad is the largest grower of perennials in Indiana.

Inspiration comes from everywhere.