Tell us about yourself!
I also wanted to tell stories with a girl protagonist their age who worked hard, loved school and learning, was confident, and was surrounded by a loving and supportive cast of characters (mostly!).
Author David Horn, as depicted by his daughters
Tell us about your chapter books.
Eudora Space Kid is a kids’ science fiction and humor series for ages 6 through 10 (grades K through 4). The 6 year olds may need a parent’s help. (So I tried to make the book fun for parents too!)
The series follows third grader Eudora, who lives on a spaceship in a diverse setting with humans and aliens. In fact, Eudora and her older sister are adopted by alien parents who work on the ship: an octopus-looking dad and a mom who looks like a beautiful gray wolf.
Eudora loves STEM. She sees all the wonderful possibilities of using STEM to have fun aboard the spaceship (which causes mayhem to others). In the first book, she wants to see if she can break the spaceship’s speed record. So she sneaks into the engine room and, well, you’ll see…
What kind of child are you trying to reach with your books?
I am trying to reach all kids to bring examples of positivity about learning. Too many chapter books take a negative view toward school, being smart, and they have kids acting poorly on purpose.
I tried to bring a fun but positive role model toward learning and school. With learning, you can change the world–or at least Eudora thinks so!
It’s not to say that Eudora will always act perfectly (everyone makes mistakes), but she is learning about her limits in these books too.
The other type of reader I am trying to reach are kids who maybe aren’t so into reading. I’m hoping the humor will get them interested!
Give us a little flavor of some great characters or the setting.
People have enjoyed the colorful characters. Like Eudora’s mom, who has to put up with Eudora’s mischief on the ship but always takes a calm attitude and supports her while also teaching.
There is a Chief of Security aboard the ship, who Eudora always ouwits. And there is also a pet dragon/bunny named Bologna. Oh, and the ship is like a floating city with 36 decks with cafeterias, shopping, pools, laboratories…you name it.
What inspired you to write this series?
It all started because one day at dinner my kids asked me for a story for some reason. They love reading and the library, so maybe they thought they could get free stories from me too? I’m not really sure.
So I was on the spot and ended up telling them the story that led to the first book: The Great Engine Room Takeover.
How did you know you wanted to be an author?
I didn’t! Seeing how my children were devouring chapter books and we were running out of new series to give them, my wife said I should just write these Eudora stories down. So that’s what I did!
The first version I wrote of The Great Engine Room Takeover was terrible! But with a great editor who saw some potential, I was able to fix it up and learn a lot in the process.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
I think finding a great editor is very important. It’s worth it to have someone go over the story with you because we’re not perfect and we miss things.
I also think I benefited from putting the story down for awhile during the editing process and coming back to it a few weeks later with fresh eyes.
What formats are your books available in?
- Paperback
- Ebook
- Audio
Find them all here.
What’s next for Eudora?
Book 2 in the series, The Lobster Tale, was released in April 2022. Right now, we’re working on the artwork for Book 3, which is about robots (yay robots!). I think it could be out closer to the end of 2022.
How can parents find you?
Eudora’s main base of operations can be found at www.eudoraspacekid.com. Or, you can purchase the books from Amazon.
For parents on social media, you can also find us on Facebook.
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