22 Sep Laura Smetana, MY LUCKY LEAF, and a Giveaway!
EL: How lucky I am to get to read all these wonderful kids’ books! Today I welcome author/illustrator Laura Smetana back to the blog. Her newest book, My Lucky Leaf, is a whimsical picture book about a child who is determined to catch her lucky leaf before it hits the ground. The vivid watercolor collages made from crayon rubbings of real leaves take me back to my childhood, when I chased red, yellow, and brown leaves across the cement and grass. Children who read this book will be as enchanted as I was when chasing my own leaves. Smetana includes a glossary and activities along with a lovely story. It’s a perfect book to welcome fall!
Welcome, Laura! Please tell us a little about yourself.
LS: I live in the Chicago suburbs with my family. From an early age, I loved reading, writing, and drawing. My grandpa was a cartoonist, my grandma loved taking me to the Art Institute of Chicago as a child, and my parents let me draw on my walls–so my creativity was nurtured from a young age! I enjoyed making books in elementary school and knew I wanted writing and creativity to be part of my career. After college, I used my creativity in different ways—first in a career in nonprofit communications and then as a preschool teacher.
During the pandemic, I rediscovered my love of creative writing and illustrating, all thanks to my son, who suggested we write a book together. The ideas kept flowing, and I haven’t looked back since. My Lucky Leaf is my fifth children’s book, but I started making the collages back in 2022! When I’m not writing, I love painting, inspiring kids to write and illustrate their own books at school author visits, teaching collage art, gardening, and spending time with my family.
EL: How did you get the idea for My Lucky Leaf?
LS: It all started when my family and I went on a hike in the woods to admire the fall colors. As the leaves fell from the trees, we started playing a game to see who could catch a leaf before it hit the forest floor. It was so much fun that we spent the rest of the afternoon jumping through the forest, trying to catch lucky leaves and making wishes on the ones we caught. That fall, I started collecting fallen leaves while out on walks, hikes, and even in my own backyard. I couldn’t get enough of the colors, sounds, and beauty of the season. I identified, cataloged, and pressed the leaves to flatten and preserve them. At that point, I still didn’t know the story that I wanted to tell, but I knew I wanted to create a book about fall that captured its joy and beauty.
I started by making watercolor copies of each leaf I collected. For several months, I continued collecting and cataloging leaves, creating watercolor painted papers for each leaf, making crayon rubbings of each actual leaf under the painted papers, and carefully cutting each leaf out. By the end of the year, I had made and cut out hundreds of leaves from over 20 different trees. At some point along the way, I thought back to the day we first caught lucky leaves in the forest and knew that was the story I wanted to tell. Looking back, it seems obvious, but it took me almost a year to get to that ah-ha moment!
EL: Thank you for explaining and sending pictures of your process. It’s amazing! What comes first, the pictures or the text?
LS: Usually the words come first for me, and the illustrations follow. But this book was different. Since I had already made all of the cut-paper watercolor leaves before knowing what the story would be, I already had a large part of the illustrated components ready to go by the time I decided on the story I wanted to tell. I had a rough outline and thumbnail sketches, but instead of writing the manuscript first, I built the book, leaf by leaf, onto large sheets of blank paper—going back and forth between each blank spread and my stacks of painted leaves.
I wanted to make sure that visually there was a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes of leaves between pages and that I could include the widest variety of leaves possible from those I had made. After building the illustrations leaf by leaf, I wrote the text underneath on small scraps of paper. Then I worked on designing the child character who leaps between the pages, glued down all the collages, and got feedback. I revised the illustrations and text for several years, but had so much fun along the way.
EL: Are all your books written with the same lyrical language? It’s beautiful.
LS: I’m not sure where that comes from, but when I wrote the first draft of My Lucky Leaf it lacked some of the lyricism that my other books have. When I sent the manuscript over to my editor, she said it felt like something was missing. I thought so too but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I’m so grateful she encouraged me to go back and revise with a lens of adding in that lyrical language. That was the missing piece!
EL: Do you have a writing group or groups? How important do you think they are?
LS: Last year, when you welcomed me to your blog after the release of My Love for You Is Like the Night Sky, I shared how important being part of a critique group is for me and mentioned how I’m part of several artists’ guilds. I wanted to expand upon that for the illustrators out there, or for those who just love making visual art. One of the things I love about being part of artists’ guilds is that it allows me to create single pieces of art just for fun.
It can be daunting to create all the art for a children’s book. It took me four years to finish My Lucky Leaf, so having opportunities to create, finish, and exhibit a piece of art in a shorter period is satisfying, and being part of a group of artists who learn from each other is encouraging. The exhibits are often centered around a theme, so it allows me to create single pieces of art inspired by my interests in travel and nature, as well as try new techniques. The collage pictured was inspired by a trip to Kirkjufell in Iceland, which happens to have a small library with wonderful librarians that I was fortunate to meet. Earlier this year, I delivered the very first copy of My Lucky Leaf to their library. Prints of some of my travel-inspired collages are on InPrnt, if you’d like to check them out. 
EL: Thank you for sharing, Laura. They are beautiful! Do you have anything else in the pipeline you can talk about?
LS: I’m currently working on a magical bedtime adventure story that I’m illustrating with cut-paper watercolor collage. The story is written, but the illustration process has been in the works for several years now. Lately I’ve been making a series of small landmark-inspired collages just for fun–but I hope to get back to work on the illustrations soon. I’m about half-way there.
EL: Do you have anything else you’d like readers to know?
LS: For those in the Chicago area, throughout the month of October 2026, all the cut-paper watercolor collages from My Lucky Leaf will be on display at the Indian Prairie Public Library (401 Plainfield Rd., Darien, IL) on the 2nd Floor Gallery near the Children’s Department. If you are in the neighborhood, feel free to check out the exhibit to see them in person. It’s free and open to the public during library hours. All the details about the exhibit and other upcoming events are on my website at www.laurasmetana.com/events.
EL: How wonderful!
LS: Thank you so much for welcoming me back here today, Ellen! I really enjoyed it.
EL: Thank YOU for joining us!
Now it’s time for a …
Laura is happy to give away one signed paperback copy of My Lucky Leaf, US addresses only. Just comment on this post to get in the running. Good luck!
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H63ZKHWX
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-lucky-leaf-laura-smetana/1150445977?ean=9798992228427
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/my-lucky-leaf/b1808364bce4c23b?ean=9798992228434
Until next time,
Ellen
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Sue Ellen is back! She has had a long, twisty road, but she’s never really gone away.
Elizabeth Suneby
Posted at 06:50h, 22 SeptemberA lovely memory and way to teach leaf types!
Kim A. Larson
Posted at 10:51h, 22 SeptemberWow! What an amazing undertaking! I love fall and your books looks wonderful!
Danielle Hammelef
Posted at 13:01h, 22 SeptemberI love that your son suggested writing a book together during the pandemic. What a fun, engaging, and educational project to collaborate on. Congratulations on your beautiful book!