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| Rocket Ship, Solo Trip illustrated by Scott Magoon |
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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
