It's raining picture books and poetry!

Today we celebrate as SCBWI member, Rebecca Colby's, third picture book MOTOR GOOSE is to be published by Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan US. 








MOTOR GOOSE, sold by agent Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon Literacy Agency, will be illustrated by Jef Kaminsky and comes out in 2017. It's a collection of Mother Goose-inspired rhymes that feature various modes of transportation—from diggers, garbage trucks and cement mixers to rockets, tugboats, submarines, and everything in between. As a member of The FunEverse, Rebecca writes rhyme regularly and was thrilled to sell a book of poems.

This post is actually a double celebration as Rebecca is also celebrating the launch of IT'S RAINING BATS & FROGS, illustrated by Steven Henry, a picture book released earlier this month. So we asked Rebecca to tell us a little bit about how her good news came about and how she is feeling…. no doubt on Cloud Nine!




"My five year old loves (and I do mean LOVES!) the Mother Goose nursery rhymes. For the past year it has been her bedtime book of choice and despite my trying to hide it from her on several occasions, she still finds it. But I can't complain as I have her to thank for my recent book deal, Motor Goose."

As a poet and member of The FunEverse, I'd long wanted to write a poetry collection. So with nursery rhymes going around in my head every night, it was no surprise that I came up with the idea of writing a Mother Goose-inspired book. Exploring themes that would appeal to young children and teachers alike, I settled on writing rhymes about 'transportation,' and soon Motor Goose was born.

I feel very fortunate to have both sold and released a book in the same month, and I credit SCBWI with so much of my success. Joining SCBWI was definitely the best decision I made for my writing career. I first started writing picture books in 2006 and made every beginner's mistake in the book like producing 32-page books (rather than 24-page books) and hiring an illustrator so that I could submit a fully-illustrated book to publishers.

After joining SCBWI a year later, I learned where I was going wrong and made friends with some wonderfully supportive and generous people. If I hadn't joined SCBWI, I'd probably have given up on my dream of publishing children's books by now. So thank you, SCBWI, for not only allowing me to share my celebrations today but for making them possible!"

In previous careers Rebecca has inspected tights, taught English in Taiwan, travelled the world as a tour director, and worked as a librarian. Rebecca, we are so glad that you joined SCBWI and we wish you every success with your new books and your future books. 


You can find out more about Rebecca at her website www.rebeccacolbybooks.com and at www.thefunEverse.com or follow her on Twitter: @amscribbler



Clare Helen Welsh lives in Devon with her husband and two children. She teaches in a primary school and has over ten years' experience in Early Years and Key Stage One.  Clare received Silver Medal at The Greenhouse Funny Prize 2014 for her picture book, Aerodynamics of Biscuits, which is due to be published by Maverick Arts Publishing in September 2015. Clare is represented by Alice Williams of David Higham Associates.




3 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Rebecca. What a good year you are having. I like the part where it says you once inspected tights.

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  2. Thank you, Candy! I've been very fortunate this year. And tights inspecting was one of the most back-breaking jobs I've ever done, constantly tugging and pulling on tights--not on myself, mind, as that would have involved major tugging ;)--onto wooden slats shaped like legs.

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