For children with ADHD

“Rocky Rocket” whizzes through space like a wild man

Iris Schachinger-Koller with her first Rocky book. She is currently writing volume 2, which will be about fears.(Bild: Charlotte Titz)

The little rocket can't and can't settle down until some new friends help her. 

Iris Schachinger-Koller has always loved writing and made up stories for her son when he was very young. "My son had extreme difficulty falling asleep. He needed something to calm him down," says the Pöttelsdorf native.

After all, every evening there was a new chapter of a story she had made up for the boy. But that wasn't the time when she really started writing. Then came the diagnosis of breast cancer. "That made me rethink things. That you shouldn't just go to work. That's when I started writing a blog about my illness," she says.

The woman from Burgenland overcame the disease, then relapsed in 2023. "I had to have another operation and was on sick leave for a year," she explains. 

After six months, she had time and leisure to write - and put one of her children's books on paper. She sent 150 pages to a children's book publisher. And waited. "Until I found out that you have to wait between three and six months for them to get back to you. And only if they are interested."

Fringe project with great success
So give up? No! Instead, Iris Schachinger-Koller worked on a short book and published "Rocky Rakete freaks out! How a little rocket learns to relax" via Amazon as a self-published book. 

"It's about a little rocket that can't relax. On its flight through space, it meets Neptune, the moon and the sun. And they all help Rocky to relax using various techniques and calm the 'thunderstorm' in his head," she explains. The author has received a lot of positive feedback for her fringe project from parents whose children have problems with restlessness or ADHD.

Iris Schinger-Koller is naturally delighted. But the best gift she received was from her now eight-year-old son. "He told me that the book is great to read and he read it in one go, which is not usually his thing," says the mom happily. She is currently working on volume 2, which will be called "Rocky Rakete hat Angst vor Monstern - Erste Hilfe bei Angst vor Monstern, Gespenstern und Gruselwesen". 

Volume 1 is available on Amazon, at Knotzer in Mattersburg and at Lesekistl in Gols.