Kiss and Tell

Rebecca Colby ’90 has turned a passion for children’s literature into a career.

October 5, 2022 Staff 2-min. read

Photographs courtesy of Rebecca Colby ’90.

By Ramona DuBose

Rebecca Colby ’90 was an award-winning writer as far back as the fifth grade, when she won a Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) essay competition. Her prize was lunch with the local DAR chapter. Three years later, she won another writing contest, and this time, the prize was a flight in a four-seater airplane.

“My 12-year-old self never forgot the excitement of where that essay took me — up in the air for the first time and flying over my house,” she said in an email interview. “It opened doors to new experiences and made me wonder what other doors writing could open.”

Colby, who lives in England, is now the author of 33 children’s books, including Beatrix and Her Bunnies, published in 2021, based on the life of Beatrix Potter. She is also a poet and screenwriter.

At NC State, Colby lived in Alexander Hall, where international students were paired with American students. That sparked her interest in travel and languages. She majored in Spanish, worked in the travel industry and eventually moved abroad.

Colby had always loved to write, she says, but “it wasn’t until my first child was born 16 years ago that I rediscovered children’s books and started writing in earnest. I picked up a picture book to read to my child and thought, ‘I can write one of these. It’ll be easy.’”

But, of course, it wasn’t easy. She received 140 rejections from publishers over seven years before she sold her first book nine years ago.

Asking her to choose her favorite story, she says, is “like asking if I have a favorite child.” But she does admit to a fondness for Crocodiles Need Kisses Too. She describes it as “an ode to the not-so-cute or cuddly animals of this world like prickly porcupines, roaring tigers and slithery snakes. It’s great reassurance for children to know that parents love their offspring unconditionally — regardless of their appearance or behavior.”

Here’s a sample: “Despite their lumpy, bumpy hide, / Toothy mouths stretched open wide, / Just like me and just like you, / Crocodiles need kisses, too.”