When I was about the same as in this photo, I already had a favorite book - children's poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky: “This little book of mine is about the seas and about the lighthouse...”. I colored all the pages with colored pencils - not only because I loved to draw: in those post-war years, the book was published modestly, with black and white pictures, but I wanted the sun, the sea, the light, the “colored” sound that filled the poems. And I also wanted the letters in the book to be large - like those on the theater stands, which became my first alphabet. Mom went to the grocery store, and left me near such a cabinet, and while she stood in line, I ran my finger along the pasted posters and learned to read. And so, when I began to write for children, these early memories turned out to be very important. I realized that children's poems cannot do without COLORED sounds and CAPITAL letters. And now I try to make sure that in each of my new books they appear as often as possible. Actually, this is what the book you are holding in your hands is about.