Courtesy of Wouter Pasman

Opening the newly published children’s book “Mia and the Martians,” readers see a young girl rushing to the edge of the page, proudly outstretching a pink rocket in her hand. The reader learns what the girl, Mia, is going to present for next week’s science fair.

“My favorite planet, of course! Mars!” exclaims the protagonist, Mia.

In her custom-built spaceship, Mia embarks on a fantastical journey to Mars with her co-pilot cat, Nebula. They meet the “Martians,” based on the real-life rovers of Mars throughout the story. Enlisting the rovers’ help, Mia learns the lesson of perseverance and finds a way back home to Earth. 

To bring this story to the page, astrophysicists Emma Louden GRD ’26 and Tanya Harrison partnered with Wouter Pasman, an illustrator and space enthusiast to co-author their debut children’s book.

Louden, a fifth year Yale astronomy graduate student, described the permanence of a book on someone’s shelf to be a new undertaking in her outreach endeavors. The story is personal to Louden, for Mia’s wonder is based on Louden’s adoration of space and exploration since childhood. 

Louden’s ability to share her love of the night sky, the power of stories and the beauty of the universe is why she chose to bring this book into the world. 

“Sharing a piece of you that matters so much is a very vulnerable moment, and vulnerability is what makes connection,” Louden said.

For Pasman, the most difficult and rewarding challenge of illustrating the book was depicting the rovers.

Pasman wanted the rovers to appear childlike while accurately portraying the designs of the real rovers. He closely collaborated with Louden and Harrison throughout the process. 

“The [rovers] are very complex (even to draw), but I wanted them to look sort of similar to their real-life counterparts,” Pasman wrote to the News, “So I used 3D models and stripped the rovers of all elements which were not important for the overall image of the rover or the story. By this, I could find a nice balance between scientific accuracy and stylized form. But then to give them eyes and personality was a lot of fun.”

The end result is a book to which families can cozy up with their children and share for generations.

Ashley Hayden, a mother from the greater New Haven community, frequently reads “Mia and the Martians” to her children, who are avid space fans. The book includes journal pages of authentic scientific facts and a “Design Your Own Rover” tutorial.

“This book was the perfect way to educate kids about Mars and its exploration history because it took us with Mia, who’s spirit and excitement about space my kids can identify with, on a captivating journey while sprinkling in all the real world facts and missions,” Hayden wrote to the News. 

After reading the book. Hayden took her son to see the planetarium show Mars 1001 at Yale’s Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium, or LFOP. When the rover drove onto the screen, Hayden’s son immediately recognized it as the same one from the book.

Louden’s favorite frame pays tribute to the iconic photograph “Pale Blue Dot” taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft 3.7 billion miles from Earth. Emma has this illustrated frame by Pasman on her desk.

In the story, while Mia looks at Earth growing larger and larger in the window, transforming from a tiny dot into a brilliant blue and green globe, she remarks to her cat, “We need to take care of our home, Nebula. It’s the only one we got.”

“Mia and the Martians” is available for purchase on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble.