Shanna Rudov-Clark

Hi! My name is Shanna Rudov-Clark and for as long as I can remember I have enjoyed looking up at the night sky, in fact this inspired me to become an Aerospace engineer and get involved in some exciting space research. I love explaining things to kids, writing poetry and the creative arts. Nine months ago we had some magnificent Aurorae down here in Tasmania, and I really felt that the time was right for a book about Aurorae written especially for kids.

This book, the first in a series yet to come, aims to ignite the imagination and a sense of wonder while also conveying the science behind the Aurora. Using simple rhyming language I have provided a scientific explanation in the form of a story that can be enjoyed by both young and older children. Here is an example extract from the book, which is part of the explanation about how the Earth's composition generates a geomagnetic field:

"Now, we know that the weight
of our planet is great,
and it squeezes the ground in the middle.
And we think (we're not sure)
there's a big iron ball
that's surrounded by hot runny metal"

Below is a low-res image of a page of the book, explaining how Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) travel through space towards Earth. For the illustrations I have employed a novel three-layered approach which incorporates the following elements:
- focus images, such as the sun and the earth, were created using a variety of techniques including acrylic and watercolour painting.
- characters, "Maggie" and "Dr Sci", whose voices narrate the story, are computer generated cartoon characters
- backgrounds, such as the starry backdrop in this image, alternate between photorealistic and abstract images depending on the requirements of the page.


There are so many ways to make the science and maths curriculum more exciting and enjoyable, and I hope to spread this message to as many Aussie children as possible, by getting these books into schools, libraries, and selected children's charities.

The overall cost of this project is $6641, and the aim of this Pozible campaign is to raise just over half of that ($3700).
Below are two pie-charts showing how the funds will be raised (left) and how the funds will be allocated (right).

If we reach the Pozible funding target, Arts Tasmania will provide a further 28% of the project cost via their Crowbar Funding program. Anything that is donated over and above the target will be used to create an interactive website that will provide further learning resources relating to the book's topic, as well as topics for future books in the series.

Your support will greatly assist me to reach my goal of printing and selling the first 1000 copies of my first children's book "There's Magic in the Sky - all about the Aurora" before the end of 2016.

This campaign aims to provide funds to overcome the following challenges:

- Establishing a professional 'look and feel' for the book: This challenge will be overcome by engaging a professional editor and a graphic designer to review and improve the book, which has already been written and illustrated.

- Promoting the book to a wide variety of audiences: This challenge will be overcome by engaging the services of Forty Degrees South - a well known local Australian publishing house that has access to a wide variety of distribution channels.