Woo-hoo! Another fabulous book in the pipeline that I know kids are going to LOVE! COSMIC COLLISIONS: ASTEROID VS. COMET – Just the title will have them pulling it off the shelf…and it’s written by an honest-to-goodness astrophysicist! And it launches on April 2, 2024!

What a FABULOUS cover!!! Illustrator Matt Schu packed a lot of excitement right up front!

Here’s a little bit about the book from the Amazon sales page:
What happens when two massive hunks of hurtling space debris slam into each other? Welcome to round one in the Cosmic Collisions series—an exciting children’s debut from an expert astrophysicist.

There’s a comet speeding in from the outer solar system, and it’s about to slam into an asteroid. Who will be left standing after this interplanetary smackdown? The pockmarked asteroid, a veteran fighter who’s already seen some action? Or the dazzling comet, with its incredible velocity and a tail that stretches millions of miles? Kicking off a dynamic series on cosmic collisions, Asteroid vs. Comet starts by comparing the two opponents, then offers hints and context to encourage readers to use real science to form a hypothesis. Action-packed full-color illustrations with a graphic, comic-book feel will attract reluctant readers and kids who love smash-and-crash, along with budding scientists. Curious readers can find back matter addressing the question of fact versus fiction, how to become a citizen scientist, and comets and asteroids in the news.

Luckily for us, Dr. Marc Kuchner, the author, stopped by to share a little bit about the story behind the story…the challenges in writing this book…some humorous moments…and more.

MARC: The challenging moment on the path to publication was, of course, COVID. I started showing ideas to people in 2019—calling these books the “Cosmic Battle” series.  News was already circulating of a dangerous virus in China, and my wife, an epidemiologist, was called to testify at a congressional hearing about it.  In March 2020, of course, all heck broke loose.  Nonetheless, Jermey Matthews at MIT Press managed to find time to read my manuscript, and in May of 2020, he encouraged me to submit a proposal for a book series. I sat on that offer for months! Like everyone else, I was struggling to juggle school closures and toilet-paper shortages. Then, unable to take our customary winter trip to see the grandparents, my family holed up for Christmas break in a rented off-season beach apartment, just for a change of scenery.  And while the winter winds swept down the shoreline and my kids baked cookies to occupy themselves, Lisa Amstutz helped me craft a proposal—which I finally submitted in January 2021.  

But there were humorous moments as well. Constructing a book for children means serious discussions about silly topics. Should “WUBBA WUBBA WUBBA SLURB” be all-caps?  My editor, Kristin Zelazko, patiently guided me through a labyrinth of similar dilemmas. But the moment in our editorial conversation that had me rolling on the floor is summed up in this email I sent her late at night after examining some proofs.

“I have refrained from commenting on the text.
I’m making no comments on the text whatsoever.
I want you to appreciate the restraint I’m showing.
Because, for example, the text does not mention a can of beans.
Nonetheless, there is an excellent line drawing of a CAN OF BEANS on spread 14.”
An earlier draft of Asteroid vs. Comet had in fact mentioned canned beans. They
are about as dense as an asteroid.

Dear friends, I love when we are able to see behind the scenes of the path to publication for a book. I know we are all grateful to Marc for sharing all of this with us.
Here’s a little bit about Marc:

Need a Dad joke? Or a long-winded speech on some esoteric topic in astrophysics? Dr. Marc Kuchner can hook you up. He’s the author of the Cosmic Collisions series (Candlewick/MIT Press, 2024) and several other forthcoming STEM books for children.

Marc was born in Montreal, Canada, and he earned his Ph.D. in astronomy in 2001 from Caltech. He’s scienced at Harvard, Princeton and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and written more than 100 scientific papers on topics such as exoplanets, white dwarfs, brown dwarfs, exotic binaries, debris disks, Kuiper belt objects, young stellar objects, gamma ray bursts, and supernovae. Kuchner won the Early Career Award from the SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, for his work on tools for exoplanet hunting. NASA recently selected Kuchner for an award for excellence in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA), for his work promoting Citizen Science.

Back in 2011, Marc began writing to help out his colleagues, authoring Marketing for Scientists: How to Shine in Tough Times. Astronomy Magazine called it “lively, engaging” and Neil deGrasse Tyson called it “the first of its kind”. Marc also writes music and lyrics. Many of his songs have been covered by aspiring pop and country artists and have appeared on VH1, MTV, BET, and PBS.

Dr. Kuchner now lives in Rhode Island with his two children, his wife, and a Venus flytrap named Popcorn.
To find out more about his books and to connect with him:
twitter.com/marckuchner
www.instagram.com/marckuchner/
www.linkedin.com/in/marckuchner/
www.marckuchner.com
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551814587784

And we hold the power to help make this wonderful book a success doing at least one of these things:
Buying the book
Reviewing the book
Place the book on your Goodreads WANT TO READ SHELF
Ask your local library to purchase copies for their collection

I hope you all have a wonderful week!