TWO MINUTES WITH JAMES LU DUNBAR

What inspired you to write the book?

A lifelong love of science, art and books, and a desire to make the world a better place. One very specific inspiration was the rhyming, illustrated books of Dr Seuss. Growing up I loved his books, and as I grew older I came to appreciate that some of them were actually about quite mature topics. I liked how he was able to take seemingly adult subjects and use rhyme and illustrations to present them in a way that children enjoy, and I’ve always aspired to do something similar myself.

Was it challenging to write in verse?

Most certainly! Writing quality verse on such technical topics was not easy. Finding the words that rhyme is the obvious challenge, but then comes the matter of getting them to fit into a successful rhythm. There were some sections I had to rewrite over and over again to get them just right.

Have you always had an interest in space?

I think one of the most amazing truths a person can realise is that the night sky holds gigantic nuclear fireballs that are so very huge, but so very, very far away that they look like little specks of light from here, and that their light took millions of years to travel here so we’re looking into the history of the Universe whenever we look up into the darkness. So yes, I’ve always thought space was very cool.

JAMES LU DUNBAR is an artist and

science enthusiast