To Leon Werth
I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for dedicating it to a grown-up.
I have a serious reason: he is the best friend I have in the world. I have another reason: this grown-up understnds everything even books about children. I have a third reason: he lives in France where he is hungry and cold. He needs cheering up.
If all these reasons are not enough I will dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown-up grew. All grown-ups were once children-- although few of them remember it. And so I correct my dedication:
Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book called True Stories from Nature about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.
In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole without chewing it.
and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion." I pon dered deeply over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One.

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