When my son was two years old, a neighbor asked me, while my son was standing right beside me, “When are you going to potty train Sean?” We went inside, and my little boy began to cry. He told me he did not want to “go away on the potty train.”

That innocent misunderstanding stayed with me. I thought it would make a wonderful story, so I created Conductor Ned, who takes a little boy named Kevin on a dreamlike journey through the forest and discovers that even the animals have to learn how to “go potty.” What began as a silly little story for my two-year-old became a treasured family book.

At the time, my best friend’s younger brother, Tom LaBaff, was studying animation at an art school. I asked him if he would illustrate the story, and he agreed. We passed the book around our family, and eventually shared it with my two daughters, who came along later. It became one of those special family stories that never really disappeared.

Thirty-five years later, everything came full circle.

Tom is now a highly successful animator and artist who has worked on Disney projects including The Lion King and with Pixar. When my son asked me if we should bring Conductor Ned back to life, I called Tommy and asked if he would consider illustrating the book again.

He said yes.

He recreated the illustrations as beautiful, bright and vivid watercolors, bringing Conductor Ned and his forest adventures to life in a way that is even more wonderful than I imagined when I first wrote the story.