A Tour Through our Upcoming Book

Thank you both for joining me. So, what is this book about?

Dhara: Space!

Charlie: That’s it. Just space.

Dhara: OK, but really; Space Tour is all about journeying through space. We start local, in our own Solar System, and then zoom out to the Sun, then to our galaxy, and even further beyond. It covers big questions, incredible objects, and some of the mysteries of the Universe.

Charlie: We imagined it as if you’re going on an actual tour, where you get to visit all these incredible places. So, we kept asking ourselves: what would someone want to know before arriving at Mars? Or a black hole? What would a traveller be curious about?

Where did the idea come from?

Charlie: Collins had already published a book in the same series that was Earth-based called World Tour, which was sort of like a travel guide to the different continents and environments on our home planet. They suggested doing a version for space, so we took that as a jumping-off point.

Dhara: What was great about that original book was how it tied in people, history and culture, not just geography. We wanted to do the same. This isn’t just facts about planets; it’s also about human connections to space: missions, myths, discoveries. The real stories.

Is this your first book?

Charlie: I’ve written a lot of educational materials, but this was my first actual book.

Dhara: I wrote a short book called Space Exploration while working at the Royal Observatory, which was part of a series called Illuminates, and mine was about space exploration. But Space Tour is my first full-length project like this.

How did the writing actually work. Was it done together or separately?

Charlie: It was a bit of both. At first, we worked on a couple of sections together to get the tone right. After that, we divvied it up. We both took different sections, then swapped to review and edit.

Dhara: We also had an editor who’d give us notes. Sometimes they’d suggest a change that didn’t quite sound like us, and we’d tweak it to keep our voices in.

Charlie: What was really nice is that Collins listened. When we had ideas for diagrams or images, like mission timelines or little infographics, they took that on board.

Did anything surprise you about working with a publisher?

Dhara: I didn’t realise we’d have so much say in the visual side. That was a really lovely surprise.

Charlie: Same. We’d say, “Could we have a little image here?” or “This would work well with an illustration,” and the team really ran with that.

Dhara: Also, how long it all takes! Toward the end, everything really speeds up.

Charlie: Yes, the week it went to print was so busy! But somehow, it all came together.

What age is Space Tour aimed at?

Charlie: Mainly upper primary and early secondary, so around Year 6 or 7.

Dhara: But I’ll be giving copies to adults too! It’s great for anyone who doesn’t have a science background but is curious about space.

Charlie: It’s child-friendly, but not childish. There are fun facts, of course, but also plenty you might not know, even as an adult.

How does it feel to have written a book?

Charlie: Awesome!

Dhara: I’m so proud! Sometimes publishers have a clear idea of what they want and you’re just filling in the gaps, but this felt like our book. We had control over the content and a big say in how it looked.

Charlie: It really feels like something we made, not just something we helped with. It was our book.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Dhara: I don’t know if I qualify to give advice yet! But I’d say: use your voice. Whether it’s with your co-author or your publisher, communication is key.

Charlie: And say yes to opportunities. This one came our way, but saying yes opened the door to more.

Dhara: In fact, we may have been contacted about potentially working on something else. So one thing really can lead to another.

Can you give me a cool space fact from the book?

Dhara: I knew you’d ask us this! I’m going to choose something called the Da Vinci glow. It’s this faint glow you can see on the Moon just before or after the New Moon. You shouldn’t really see it, but light from Earth reflects back onto the Moon’s surface and gives it a subtle glow.

Charlie: I loved learning about galaxies that look like other things. There’s one that looks like a penguin with an egg, and in the book we’ve added little “Can you spot it?” challenges where you look for these shapes in the stars.

And finally, if you could go anywhere in space, where would you go?

Dhara A globular cluster! And you’ll find out why in the book...

Charlie: [laughs] Nice plug!