Garcia and Colette Go Exploring

Exploring outer space and the ocean is exciting, but what if you left something very important at home?

Best friends Garcia and Colette are eager to go exploring, only they can’t agree on where to go. Garcia loves everything about space (Stars! Planets!)­ and Colette is obsessed with the sea (Waves! Fish!).

Staying home is not an option, so they each get busy. Garcia builds a rocket ship that’s snazzy and silver. Colette’s shiny submarine is perfect for deep-sea dives. And they wish each other well on their travels.

It turns out the Milky Way really is amazing and the ocean floor is truly spectacular, but Garcia and Colette both realize they left something very important back home.

Exploring your favorite place can be terrific, but maybe the company is more important than the destination.

Hannah Barnaby has worked as a children's book editor, a bookseller, and a teacher of writing for children and young adults. She holds an MA in children's literature from Simmons College and an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College. Her first novel, Wonder Show, was a William C. Morris YA Debut Award nominee.

Andrew Joyner is an illustrator, author and cartoonist based in Strathalbyn, South Australia. In 2009 his first picture book was published, The Terrible Plop, written by Ursula Dubosarsky. Since then Andrew has illustrated many more picture books, including Too Many Elephants in this House (also by Ursula Dubosarsky) and The Swap, written by Jan Ormerod. He has also written and illustrated the Boris series of early-reader chapter books, all about a winsome and adventurous warthog. Along with his children's book work, Andrew illustrates regularly for The School Magazine, a literary magazine for younger readers published by the NSW Department of Education.