Rocket Ship, Solo Trip Interview: Chiara Colombi

 

Rocket Ship, Solo Trip illustrated by Scott Magoon

Chiara Colombi has written an enticing rhyming picture book, Rocket Ship, Solo Trip which was published by Viking and imprint of Penguin Random House. Parents will want to read it again and again. Scott Magoon’s beautiful and whimsical illustrations which were rendered digitally draw the reader into the story. Ms. Colombi’s layer text describes both the physical, scientific process of launching a satellite in easy to understand language and the emotional trepidation that accompanies first times. The rhymes and illustrations beg repeat readings.

Three Question Interview with Chiara Colombi

ETC: Welcome Chiara.

You speak both Italian and English fluently. Your rhymes are exquisite. Did you take rhyming classes or webinars in English? If yes, would you like to recommend one or two?

CC: The first sentence of ROCKET SHIP, SOLO TRIP popped into my head in rhyme, but as soon as I tried to write a second sentence, I realized I had no idea what I was doing. I hurried myself to Google for help—I wasn't yet aware of organizations like the 12x12 Picture Book Challenge and all the webinars available focused on the craft of writing picture books. By way of Google search results, I landed on Dori Chaconas's website, specifically an article from 2006 called "Icing the Cake: Writing Stories in Rhythm and Rhyme". You can find it here: http://www.dorichaconas.com/Icing%20the%20Cake%20page.htm That article was my textbook and my guiding light. It inspired me to take my favorite rhyming picture books and type them up in a doc, finding the couplets that are often broken up over the page in the book design process, and marking the stresses in bold, to teach myself how it all worked. After deep diving a number of picture books this way, I learned the techniques I needed to draft ROCKET SHIP start to finish, with a consistent meter and rhyme scheme. I still think Dori's article is among the best articles on rhyming out there!

ETC: What advice would you give students in K – 12 who would like to write?

CC: Read, write, repeat. Read whatever writing appeals to you the most. And write anything: journal entries, poetry, news articles about your family's boring weekend, fan fiction (fan fiction, in particular!), stories that go no where, stories that go where you hadn't planned them to go, stories that go exactly where you planned them to go. The more you read, the more you understand what you like in writing. And the more you write, the more you figure out how to create what you like on your own. It's honestly as simple as that. Once you've figured out how to write something that you like, the next step is to share it with someone you trust. Sharing your work, and learning how to receive feedback and work with that feedback to improve your writing is an essential skill if you want to write something that others beyond yourself will also like. Of course, you can also just write for yourself, in which case, there's never a need to share. But if you're hoping to write stories for others, feedback from a trusted source will be invaluable in helping you to make your stories as strong as they can be.

ETC: Thank you for your generous answers.

Visit Chiara Colombi

Visit illustrator Scott Magoon

A special thanks to Dori Chaconas for sharing Dori Chaconas Icing the Cake  

Scott Magoon has an interesting article On Publishing  

Visit NASA What is an Orbit?

 Learn more about orbits NASA Earth Satellite Orbits

 Visit your local bookstore Second Star to the Right