Jonathan Roth and I are colleagues in the same school district, but do not teach at the same school – we work in a very large district – 211 schools and counting!  He is a vibrant art teacher who encourages his students to authentically express themselves and create bravely.

In this busy spring season I was able to catch up with Jonathan to talk about his current book, Rover and Speck: Splash Down and his upcoming book, Almost Underwear: How a Piece of Cloth Traveled from Kitty Hawk to the Moon and Mars (August 2024).  Jonathan will be a featured author at the 15th Annual Gaithersburg Book Festival on May 18, 2024 at 4:15pm in the Jim Henson Pavilion.

Please tell us about your journey to become a children’s author.

Starting from early childhood, there hasn’t been a time when I haven’t been drawing,writing or cartooning. And not a day where I haven’t been reading! Out of art school Iwas revisiting some favorite picture books and discovering new ones, and it hit me that that’s what I really wanted to do. Of course, it took many years of learning and tryingand failing, but then I finally got an agent and…failed some more (not her fault, it’s just super competitive). Finally, with my current agent, I started making sales. And now books 7 and 8 are releasing this year! (though like almost all published authors, I still get rejections too).

How did you create your characters, Rover and Speck?

I’d been following the real Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity on and off since they landed in 2004. They were designed to last 90 days; Spirit lasted 5 years and Opportunity almost 15! When I read in the paper (yes, paper) in 2019 that Opportunity had finally ‘died’ (lost power for good) on Mars, I instantly knew I wanted to write about a fictional rover who ‘died’ but then was discovered and revived by another rover. Cue un planetary adventures!

How is your creative process different when writing/illustrating the Rover and Speck graphic novels versus writing your Beep and Bob chapter book series?

Rover and Speck has full-color comics illustrations taking up every page, and the Beep and Bob books each have only about 20-30 black and white spot illustrations, so the biggest difference is that R&S takes a lot more hours at my drawing board! I’m faster at the writing part.

I know you are coming to Gaithersburg Book Festival #15 to present Rover and Speck: Splash Down, but I am also curious about your upcoming nonfiction picture book, Almost Underwear (book birthday August 20, 2024).

I’ve been attending the GBF since year 1! And this will be my 4 th time speaking there (not including a video for the virtual year), so I’m super excited. Maybe you can expect a little peek at Almost Underwear at this year’s festival, hint hint, but in a nutshell it’s the story about how some ordinary cloth was bought by two brothers in a Dayton department store in 1903, and how various cuts of that cloth became part of the first powered airplane flight on Earth and then also the first moon landing and the first flight on Mars in 2021! It’s a book about innovation and commemoration – and underwear (well, almost underwear).

What is your research process, and when do you decide you have enough background knowledge to begin writing?

Don’t tell anyone, haha, but I start writing well before I know all the facts! With Almost Underwear, once I had the three main historical vantage points (first flight and thencloth from the wing of the Flyer taken to both the moon and Mars) I immediately begana draft from the point of view of the cloth as it was sitting in the store alongside muchfancier cloth, waiting to be purchased. Then as I began to research in earnest, I fleshed out the historic details as I went (with creative license of course – the cloth didn’t actually have a cute face:) I did go into it with a lot of prior knowledge about the Wright Flyer, Apollo 11, and Mars missions, but it was a great excuse to delve into lots of new and review reading.

What is the most fascinating fact that you discovered while researching for Almost Underwear: How a Piece of Cloth Traveled from Kitty Hawk to the Moon and Mars?

I don’t know if it’s the most fascinating fact, but early on, when I read that the type of muslin the Wright Brothers purchased from a Dayton department store was most commonly used at that time to make “ladies undergarments”, I knew I had my fun hook.

What do you love most about writing for children?

I love the KidLit community. Writing can be solitary, with only peeks at the tip of the iceburg ever showing (if you’re lucky!) While I do it for the kids of course, I really value that I’ve been able to build lasting relationships with other creators and book lovers.

What message do you have for librarians? For your readers?

Librarians, you rock! Even in these challenging times, librarians always strive to get the right books in the right hands. And readers: you rock too! With so many choices – and distractions – these days, I am heartened every time I see a young person reading (doubly heartened if it’s one of my books!) Books are little miracles, and we (authors, illustrators, editors, librarians, readers) co-create them together.

If you would like to learn more about Jonathan and his books, please read the following posts:

Rover and Speck: This GBF Rocks! (May 2, 2023)

Outta this World with Jonathan Roth (April 29, 2019)