Dr. Alan Lightman, GPSW acting director and professor of the practice of the humanities, finds himself at a brand new intersection. MIT Press and the children’s publishing group Candlewick Press have joined forces to launch two new imprints—MIT Kids Press and MITeen Press. This is a first-ever collaboration between a university press and a children’s publisher, and they’ve recruited GPSW’s own Alan Lightman for his upcoming children’s book Ada and the Galaxies, a picture book about space that’s co-authored by Olga Pastuchiv and illustrated by Susanna Chapman.

Lightman and Pastuchiv’s book will be among the first published through the new collaboration. Other upcoming books on the slate include MIT App Inventor, a practical guide to app coding for middle grade readers by MIT Computer Science and Engineering Professor Hal Abelson, and Hanmoji, an emoji guide to learning Chinese by Jennifer 8. Lee, Jason Li, and An Xiao Mina.

“The collaboration of MIT and Candlewick is a no-brainer,” Lightman told MIT News. “In this joint venture, which I am proud to be a part of, we bring together a leading institution of science and a leading children’s book publisher to help inspire awe and understanding of the natural world in our young people.”

Ada and the Galaxies hits shelves in autumn of 2021.