I’ve been struggling all summer to find a book to read with my 8 year old. He’s a smart kid, but he’s not really all that interested in the things I remember being into as a kid. I keep trying books I grew up on, and he’s not really been interested in any of them. That may be a maturity thing, though. I didn’t really get into reading until I was in middle school.
But he loves math. At the end of last year, he bought the juvenile edition of Hidden Figures from the book fair at school, so we’ve been working our way through it over the last few weeks.
By and large, he was quite taken by the book.
Most of this book takes place in the 1940s and 1950s, and follows three black women who worked as human computers for NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) before that organization was restructured and became NASA. These computers did the calculations for engineers conducting aeronautical research. These women were segregated – not only because many of them were black, but because they were women.
This book covers not only the vital roles they played in the development of US aerospace technology, but it also covers the roadblocks they faced in an American society desperately in need of their abilities while often steadfastly refusing to give them credit for their work.
One of the women, Mary Jackson, helped her son design and build the winning box car for a local derby in 1960. Though she was proud of her son, enjoyed working on the project with him, and was thankful for the changing mores that allowed them, a black family in Virginia, to take part in the race – she never lost sight of the fact that her daughter wasn’t allowed to participate.
My son loved the book, and frequently asked me to read more every night. One more page. One more chapter. His interest originally stemmed from his interest in math, but he quickly grew interested in the women that helped shape NASA and space exploration. He grieved their losses, celebrated their triumphs, and became angry at the injustices that they routinely faced. Easy five stars from him.