Illustrator's note: the story behind the story

When I first received and read the writing that had been done for this book, I knew I would have to try the tricks in order to visualize how I wanted to draw them. I was intrigued to find out how to make coins appear and disappear, how a pencil could look like it was bending, and then to find that I could actually do these tricks. I was no magician, though I had once been able to make a cascade of pennies plunk into a pail at a birthday party, a trick I had seen my father perform when I was four or five years old. Working on this book gave me a few new tricks up my sleeve.