Hawking to Do Book for Kids

By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 6/14/2007 12:18:00 PM

Stephen Hawking is going to explain the universe to a new audience: children. The renowned physicist has signed with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers to do a children’s book, George’s Secret Keys to the Universe, about the origins of the cosmos. The middle-grade novel follows the titular boy who, after befriending a father-daughter duo with a super-computer, goes on a series of adventures throughout the world, and beyond. It will be illustrated by Garry Parsons and, according to S&S, will be done "in partnership" with Hawking’s daughter, Lucy Hawking, a journalist and novelist. S&S will publish the title, which was acquired from agent Eric Simonoff of the Jankow & Nesbit Agency, this fall, with a 100,000-copy first printing.