One Day a Mayfly

A mayfly newly born in the city gives meaning to “seize the day” in this lyrical, stunningly illustrated story at once poignant and uplifting.

One early spring day, Mayfly emerges from a lake in the middle of the city, looks around, lifts her wings nervously, and takes flight. Nobody notices, except for a little girl in a yellow raincoat, following close behind. Mayfly has been given just one day—her birthday!—but she intends to live life to the fullest, with the wind beneath her wings. Michael Speechley’s striking illustrations follow the mayfly’s flight from close-up views to bird’s-eye panoramas, contrasting the natural world of the lake and the bustling city around it. As Mayfly completes her life cycle and people live theirs in parallel, oblivious to the tiny creature nearby, she embraces the uncertainty and joy of life—and the surprises that lie around any corner. Beautifully designed in “calendar” format, with a simple, poetic text and warm visual humor and clues, here is a book with appeal for fans of Duck, Death, and the Tulip—a bittersweet ode to the wonder and possibility of life.A tale to have readers seizing the day.
—Kirkus ReviewsShirley Marr is a first-generation Chinese-Australian and the award-winning author of A Glasshouse of Stars, named a Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year and winner of the Western Australian Premier’s Book Award for Writing for Children, and the middle-grade novel Countdown to Yesterday. She lives in Perth, Western Australia.

Michael Speechley’s debut picture book, The All New Must Have Orange 430, was a Children’s Book Council of Australia Honor Book and a Wilderness Society Environment Award for Children’s Literature winner. He also illustrated The Gift, a Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book. He works as a high school art teacher in Western Australia, where he lives.