Curated Texan
Looking for the perfect gift for your children, as well as others? Look no further than Austin-based author Katie Jaffe along with her mother, Jennifer Lawson, who just launched their second children’s book, Ready, Set, Mars after their highly successful book Fly, Fly Again launched in 2020. The colorful illustrations are by Tammie Lyon, an award-winning illustrator, who is known for her work on the Eloise series and the popular Katie Woo series. She is currently writing and illustrating an early chapter series for emergent readers to celebrate children’s diversity.
We love that Ready, Set, Mars is an entertaining and educational book that introduces young readers to the concepts of space travel, and settling Mars. Jet and Jordy, accompanied by their friends, Newton (a frog) and Da Vinci (a snake), combine their skills in geometry and physics to build a rocket to travel to Mars. It is a fun story of adventure, teamwork, and perseverance that begins to lay a foundation for aerodynamics in an adorable picture book format. The illustrator, Tammie Lyon is an award-winning author and illustrator of numerous children’s books.
This book is the second in a series of educational and fun books for children through the authors’ company, Liftoff Learning Studios. But, what’s it about? Elementary schoolers Jet and Jordy live and breathe the world of space science, especially when it comes to understanding and constructing homemade working rovers and rockets. If there’s a challenge to be solved, this sister and brother figure it out, even if it means that Jet’s rover is destroyed by the rocket that Jordy accidentally sends crashing through her bedroom window! When they decide to combine their talents and work as a team, big things start to happen.
Their contagious energy, boundless curiosity, and dedication to problem-solving (with some help from a math-minded snake, a nimble frog, and some bubble gum), lead the duo to a NASA contest with an out-of-this-world prize they could have never imagined. Parents, teachers, and young readers will delight in being along for the ride as Jet and Jordy discover the sky is not the limit.
For more information on the book and appearance details, visit www.liftofflearningstudios.com. The book can be found at Amazon, Book People, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers.
