Cosmic Journey

Happy International Women’s Day!

This day has been special to me for many years. I hope you’re celebrating the women in your life and history.

I am thrilled to announce my newest book, The Cosmic Journey of Jessica Meir, to be published this fall by Islandport Press!

Publisher’s Weekly Rights Report

It became official in early February when Publisher’s Weekly included this bit of news:)

During the years of development of my last picture book, Skywatcher, I saw in the Portland Press Herald that Jessica Meir, native of Caribou, Maine was up in the International Space Station. How cool! I decided to put a cameo of Jessica on the cover of Tamen’s comic book.

detail from Skywatcher by Jamie Hogan

My partner, Marty Braun, has a vintage game, Space Race, that informed the illustration.

photo of card game, Space Race

Of course, what truly informs my daily rhythms is the Lunar Calendar, published by Luna Press. I have contributed to this fascinating calendar for over forty years and it helps my dedicated moon gazing.

photo of lunar calendars by Luna Press

Directly after finishing Skywatcher, I worked on a book by Gunnel Larsdotter, The Milky Way, another ode to the stars above.

photo of The Milky Way by Gunnel Larsdotter

When I was free of deadlines in early March of 2022, I visited the Caribou Public Library to dig in their archives about Jessica. One thing I love about illustrating is the research. Bring on the books! I gathered many from my local library about space, astronauts, and watched films. These are in my permanent collection.

books and magazine from Jamie’s collection

I also pored over my favorite picture book biographies. Have you read any of these? I highly recommend!

a collection of fantastic picture book biographies

While I have written two books and illustrated two biographies by other authors, each new project is a fresh challenge.

children’s books illustrated by Jamie Hogan

I am grateful to my Critters, a group of incredible kid lit authors I joined in 2018. Thanks to Maryann Cocca-Leffler, Jen Goldfinger, and Jennifer Jacobson, their patient wisdom saw me through a pile of book dummies!

pile of book dummies by Jamie Hogan

My first round of submissions was on International Women’s Day in 2023, the same day that Jessica Meir announced she’d had a baby!

I dove into more revisions to include that important fact. Motherhood is quite a rocket ride! I submitted another round on IWD in 2024, changing the title from Moon to Caribou to The Cosmic Quest of Jessica Meir. But, no takers.

Until…author Alexandra S. D. Hinrichs became the children’s book editor at Islandport Press in March of 2025. I decided to submit to her on International Women’s Day last year. She’d seen a version of the book during our many book events for The Lobster Lady.

picture book partners, Alexandra S. D. Hinrichs and Jamie Hogan celebrating The Lobster Lady at the Rice Public Library, Kittery, Maine

Third time’s a charm! I signed a contract and began the volley of edits to the manuscript for several months. In July, I began the process of sketching all the new scenes, as the book went from thirty-two pages to forty. In a surprise plot twist, we learned that Jessica would be going up to the ISS again in February of this year!

VROOOOOOOM!

An even bigger surprise? NASA’s  Johnson Space Center invited Islandport to the launch! I got to be Alex’s plus one!

We flew separately to Orlando and found our way to the Casa Coquina Del Mar in Titusville, Florida on February 10. The launch was scheduled for February 11, but before I left Boston, we learned it had been bumped to February 12. We ventured to the nearby Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge for a slow day of bird watching that restored our travel weary souls.

Biology was Jessica’s field of study, and she did research on bar headed geese. Here’s a sneak peek from the book.

illustration by Jamie Hogan from The Cosmic Journey of Jessica Meir, coming in fall 2026

I brought a sketchbook but hardly had a minute to draw. Here’s one of my memories, of seeing an anhinga for the first time.

drawing from Jamie Hogan’s sketchbook of an anhinga seen at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

The launch was rescheduled again to February 13, so we visited the Kennedy Space Center on February 12. I had sketched the entrance in one of my many book dummies, it was kinda surreal to BE THERE.

sketch from a book dummy by Jamie Hogan

I got downright weepy at the enormity of it all, the space history, and the long haul of getting my book to this point.

sketch of Kennedy Space Center entrance by Jamie Hogan

Alex took tons of pictures of me with the new cover design in various locations.

photo by Alexandra S. D. Hinrichs of Jamie Hogan at Kennedy Space Center

There’s many displays of space history, towering rockets outside, and relics of past programs inside. I liked this vintage spacesuit that looks almost fit for a robot.

drawing by Jamie Hogan of a spacesuit on display at Kennedy Space Center

There were other  marvels, such as this Barbie for sale in the gift shop, a vintage model from before any woman had the chance to be an astronaut.

drawing by Jamie Hogan of vintage Barbie astronaut doll

During her first voyage on the ISS in 2019, Jessica and Christina Koch made history with the first all-woman space walk. This time,

Jessica is commander of Crew-12 while Christina is part of the Artemis team that will soon orbit the moon. Sisters in space!!

drawing of Jessica Meir and Christina Koch by Jamie Hogan

Finally the launch day came! NASA asked guests to check in between 2 and 2:45 AM!

photo of Alexandra S. D. Hinrichs, eager for the launch at Kennedy Space Center, February 13, 2026

My illustration in The Cosmic Journey of Jessica Meir bears no resemblance to what we witnessed. In 2019, Jessica launched from Kazakhstan in a Russian rocket.

illustration from The Cosmic Journey of Jessica Meir by Jamie Hogan coming in fall 2026

In the pre-dawn dark, we were jittery with anticipation. It was also a chilly morning, mid-50 degrees. While NASA staff provided narration of the event, we watched  a live stream of the Space X rocket where Crew-12 was all buckled in. When the countdown reached zero, the sky totally lit up.

VROOOOOOOM!!!!

Off they blasted, leaving an unforgettable boom in everyone’s ears. Many thanks to Islandport, Alex, and Johnson Space Center for the thrill of a lifetime!

photo by a passerby at the American Space Museum, Jamie and Alex having fun

A big bravo to art director Kristen Nobles, who designed the cover with my illustration.

cover design by Kristen Nobles for The Cosmic Journey of Jessica Meir, coming fall 2026 from Islandport Press

Stay tuned for details about a book launch, and here’s where to order.

Keep looking up, dear book lovers, you might spy the ISS overhead and know that Jessica Meir is looking down on us all with awe. Thanks for reading!