Janice Ford recommends A Computer Called Katherine by Suzanne Buckinham Slade. Janice shares, "Katherine was a math whiz, who was African American and was instrumental in providing the necessary math calculations for NASA's first human space flights." Janice also shares, "I selected this book because, as an engineer, I want to share Katherine's contribution to the world, especially with young girls and minority children in our community. I want them to be encouraged to dream big and to plunge into the Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) fields."
The inspiring true story of mathematician Katherine Johnson--made famous by the award-winning film Hidden Figures--who counted and computed her way to NASA and helped put a man on the moon!
Katherine knew it was wrong that African Americans didn't have the same rights as others--as wrong as 5+5=12. She knew it was wrong that people thought women could only be teachers or nurses--as wrong as 10-5=3. And she proved everyone wrong by zooming ahead of her classmates, starting college at fifteen, and eventually joining NASA, where her calculations helped pioneer America's first manned flight into space, its first manned orbit of Earth, and the world's first trip to the moon!
