Creator Corner: Author James Gladstone
Welcome to Creator Corner, a blog series where we interview the creators of our recent books. For this post, we interviewed I Wonder About Worlds author James Gladstone, whose book published October 15, 2024!
Owlkids Books: James, how did you begin writing children’s books?
James Gladstone: I worked as an editor of school books, many of them science-themed. I also read popular science books. Ideas in those books sparked my imagination, so one day I started writing to see what I could come up with. It took years, but in time I wrote a few manuscripts that publishers wanted to make into books!
OKB: What inspired you to write this book?
JG: I’m always inspired to write about astronomy, because I find it an exciting subject. Astronomers have only just begun to learn about planets throughout the galaxy. We’re all at the beginning of this world-discovering journey, so I wanted to write this book to invite readers along for the ride!
OKB: What is a planet fact you found really fascinating in your research as you wrote this book?
JG: There were some types of exoplanets that didn’t make the cut for the book. For example, have you ever heard of an eyeball planet? Or how about a super-puff planet? Maybe that’s one of the fun parts for scientists discovering exoplanets: coming up with nicknames to describe their exoplanet discoveries!
OKB: What was the most enjoyable part of bringing this story to life? What was the most challenging part of the process?
JG: It was fun to imagine a young star explorer traveling through the galaxy. It was even more fun to work with the illustrator and see that journey come to life. The most challenging part was deciding which information to include about planets and exoplanets. We only have so much space in a picture book, so I had to leave out lots of interesting bits!
OKB: What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
JG: Finding out about other worlds is fascinating, and perhaps this book will inspire some readers to pursue astronomy as a hobby or even a career. But also, there really is no place quite like Earth. You just can’t live on a Hot Jupiter! I think our home is the best planet.
