An Interview with I Ship Author Kelly Rice Schmitt
SHANNON ANDERSON INTERVIEWS
KELLY RICE SCHMITT
AUTHOR OF
I SHIP:
A CONTAINER SHIP’S COLOSSAL JOURNEY
Illustrated by Jam Dong
(Millbrook Press; $19.99, Ages 5-9)
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY:
Come aboard a massive container ship as it pulls into port, loads up with cargo, and heads out to the open ocean. The ship’s voyage includes starry skies and stormy seas, swift currents and unforeseen delays. Through it all, the crew keeps working—with goods to keep the world going, they must carry on.
Rhythmic text from Kelly Rice Schmitt and delightfully detailed illustrations from Jam Dong provide a riveting look at the journey of one mighty ship.
INTERVIEW:
Shannon Anderson: Congratulations on your new book, I SHIP: A CONTAINER SHIP’S COLOSSAL JOURNEY. This is even more exciting because it’s your debut! This is a story about a ship’s journey, but what was the journey of this manuscript? How did it get acquired?
Kelly Rice Schmitt: It’s fun to think of my writing journey paralleling the journey of Ship. Just like a container ship, it takes a lot of people and a lot of preparation to launch a book. I SHIP’s publication journey began with an amazing online retreat put on my SCBWI Ohio-North called the Triple Scoop ReTreat. I highly recommend this conference if they ever do it again. Attendees met with a published author mentor in small groups (created by the hosts according to MS style/ appeal, etc) for 2 Saturdays in a row, getting live feedback on an MS and then having time to revise in between in order to prepare the story for a live reading and feedback with an editor. My editor, Carol Hinz, loved the first version of I SHIP, which was originally focused specifically on the 2021 Suez Canal Crisis, where the Ever Given container ship was stuck in the canal and halted global trade for weeks. She thought the story would be more timeless if it were a general shipping book. The final option of the conference was the chance to add on a paid critique follow-up with the editor after you have revised with their notes. Carol had a few more suggestions and invited me to revise and then submit it to her! I did, and she acquired I SHIP. It was very exciting!
SA: What inspired you to write about a container ship?
KRS: After having multiple jobs related to energy ships in my energy trading and supply career, I knew I just HAD to write something about shipping for kids. I loved the idea of a shipping process book, but it took many years to find the right way to tell that story. It wasn’t until a critique partner, Christine Abely, suggested writing about a container ship getting stuck, like what happened in the 2021 Suez Crisis with the Ever Given, that I had a path forward with specifically writing about a container ship.

SA: This story is told from the ship’s first-person point of view. What caused you to choose this perspective?
KRS: I was inspired to use a first-person point of view while participating in Vivian Kirkfield’s #50preciouswords challenge, in which writers must tell a compelling story using only 50 words. While writing what is now going to be a follow-up to I SHIP (yay!) I was pushing myself to distill a very complex topic for kids into something simple and relatable. With only 50 words, I realized I could be both brief and emotional by telling the story through the eyes of the subject matter! I felt it also added a connection point for kids, bringing them more directly into that world.
SA: There is SO much to learn from this book. Readers can not only learn throughout the pages of the story but also through your glossary of shipping terms and STEM back matter information. What was your research process like for this book?
KRS: In addition to reading many adult books and watching media on the history and technology of container shipping, I also consulted with Youtuber Bryan Boyle to help us with accuracy. I loved his content (Youtube: @bryanboyle) following his journeys at sea as a U.S. Merchant Marine and thought he could help us convey this story with details that would resonate with people like him who work on these gigantic ships and, also, in the land-based jobs that support them. Bryan helped us make changes to both the text and art to better reflect real-life shipping. He was extremely helpful, and I hope we achieved that goal. I love back matter, and I had a lot of fun creating it for I SHIP. I hope everyone checks it out! There is also an activity guide that can be found here (https://lernerbooks.com/teaching_guides/804) with more fun activities, experiments, and coloring pages for PREK-5th graders to interact with the book.

SA: What do you hope readers will learn or take away from reading this?
KRS: I hope readers of all ages discover details about the amazing shipping process that enables 80 to 90% of global trade. Container ships, their ports, and the incredible teams that run them are the backbone of the global economy, and we can see the ripple effects in the supply chain when elements of their journey are interrupted. Urgent medication and vaccines may be delayed, toys may not arrive for a holiday, certain produce may not be available due to weather conditions on the journey at sea, in publishing—books due for a release date are delayed. Surprisingly, many of us know little about an industry that fundamentally impacts our daily lives.
SA: Do you have other projects ready to deliver to the world?
KRS: You have such great puns today, Shannon! I’m excited to share that I SHIP is the first in what will be a series of STEM books, all told in first person tense. The second book will be released in Fall 2024 and hopefully will be announced soon! I also have an unannounced forthcoming fiction picture book in progress with Knopf Books for Young Readers (a PRH imprint).
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AUTHOR BIO:

Kelly Rice Schmitt is a former energy trader and children’s writer who loves getting small humans excited about big ideas . . . like container shipping! Although she has scheduled ship logistics and tracked energy shipments around the world, she has never worked on a container ship. Kelly lives in North Carolina with her husband, young children, and many stacks of books. I Ship is her debut book. Keep up with Kelly at www.kellyriceschmitt.com or follow her on social media.
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SOCIAL MEDIA:
For the author –
X (Twitter):https://twitter.com/
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/
For the illustrator –
Jam Dong website: https://jamdongart.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jam_
For the interviewer –
Shannon Anderson website: www.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/