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Blast Off!

How Mary Sherman Morgan Fueled America into Space

Author Suzanne Slade
Illustrated by Sally Wern Comport
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Hardcover
$18.99 US
Astra Publishing House | Calkins Creek
10.38"W x 11.81"H x 0.41"D  
On sale Apr 12, 2022 | 48 Pages | 9781684372416
Grades 2-5
Reading Level: Lexile 690L | Fountas & Pinnell S
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A New York Public Library Best Book for Kids

The inspirational story of Mary Sherman, the world's first female rocket scientist, who overcame gender barriers and many failures to succeed.

Growing up in the 1920s on a dirt-poor farm in North Dakota, Mary Sherman's life was filled with chores--until she finally began school and discovered she loved to learn.
 
Mary excelled at science, especially chemistry, and leaped at the chance to work in a laboratory during World War II designing rocket fuels. And when the US decided to enter the space race, Mary was chosen over her male colleagues to create the fuel to launch a rocket carrying America's first satellite.
 
With courage and perseverance, Mary's hard work and calculations paid off, opening up a brand-new frontier for exploration. This STEM biography of an unsung and courageous woman in science will inspire and motivate young readers.
Suzanne Slade is the award-winning author of dozens of children's nonfiction books, including The Inventor's Secret, Friends for Freedom, and The House That George Built. She lives in Libertyville, Illinois, with her husband, two children, and adorable dog, Corduroy. Visit suzanneslade.com View titles by Suzanne Slade
Sally Wern Comport is the illustrator of numerous picture books and covers, including Blast Off! How Mary Sherman Morgan Fueled America into Space, Ada's Violin, and Nile Crossing. Sally has been working as an artist since she was 15 years old, when she would draw ads for her father’s advertising agency. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of American Illustration in New York. She lives in Annapolis, Maryland. Visit sallycomport.com. View titles by Sally Wern Comport
A New York Public Library Best Book for Kids
NSTA/CBC Best STEM Book

"Prolific STEM writer Slade spotlights Mary Sherman Morgan (1921-2004) and her role in the launch of the US’s first successful satellite. Comport’s lively illustrations—rendered using color pencil, traditional collage, digital collage, and digital paint—combine dramatic perspectives, facsimiles of space-race ephemera, and collaged STEM equations, enhancing Slade’s spry narrative. A respectful, important tribute to an instrumental rocket scientist." —Kirkus Reviews

"Slade...follows noted chemist Morgan from her North Dakota childhood working on the family farm to the triumph of watching the rocket that launched the U.S.’s first satellite into Earth’s orbit—using fuel she developed—with many obstacles and challenges along the way. Comport’s...illustrations...are effective in showing the discrimination Morgan faced as a young female chemist in the 1940s, her isolation surrounded by men, and the wonderment of her accomplishments....An engaging introduction to one woman’s mostly unheralded contributions to American space flight." —The Horn Book

"[Suzanne Slade]...profiles another woman scientist who played a significant role in this country’s early space program...Slade follows Mary Sherman Morgan from a North Dakota farm to a lab in California, where her 'passion for chemistry' drove her to become 'the rocket fuel expert,' and to develop the powerful-yet-stable fuel that put Explorer I into orbit in 1958. Comport outfits Morgan in nerdy period eyeglasses, standing confidently next to the tools of her profession amid swirls of equations." —Booklist

"Slade introduces a little-known hero of the space race in this dynamically illustrated portrayal of rocket fuel scientist Mary Sherman Morgan. Wern Comport’s vivid multimedia illustrations depict Morgan and other engineers at work in images that teem with equations, data tables, formulas, and slide rules...Mary’s example of perseverance and glass ceiling–shattering delivers a motivating message for would-be scientists." —Publishers Weekly

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A New York Public Library Best Book for Kids

The inspirational story of Mary Sherman, the world's first female rocket scientist, who overcame gender barriers and many failures to succeed.

Growing up in the 1920s on a dirt-poor farm in North Dakota, Mary Sherman's life was filled with chores--until she finally began school and discovered she loved to learn.
 
Mary excelled at science, especially chemistry, and leaped at the chance to work in a laboratory during World War II designing rocket fuels. And when the US decided to enter the space race, Mary was chosen over her male colleagues to create the fuel to launch a rocket carrying America's first satellite.
 
With courage and perseverance, Mary's hard work and calculations paid off, opening up a brand-new frontier for exploration. This STEM biography of an unsung and courageous woman in science will inspire and motivate young readers.

Author

Suzanne Slade is the award-winning author of dozens of children's nonfiction books, including The Inventor's Secret, Friends for Freedom, and The House That George Built. She lives in Libertyville, Illinois, with her husband, two children, and adorable dog, Corduroy. Visit suzanneslade.com View titles by Suzanne Slade
Sally Wern Comport is the illustrator of numerous picture books and covers, including Blast Off! How Mary Sherman Morgan Fueled America into Space, Ada's Violin, and Nile Crossing. Sally has been working as an artist since she was 15 years old, when she would draw ads for her father’s advertising agency. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of American Illustration in New York. She lives in Annapolis, Maryland. Visit sallycomport.com. View titles by Sally Wern Comport

Praise

A New York Public Library Best Book for Kids
NSTA/CBC Best STEM Book

"Prolific STEM writer Slade spotlights Mary Sherman Morgan (1921-2004) and her role in the launch of the US’s first successful satellite. Comport’s lively illustrations—rendered using color pencil, traditional collage, digital collage, and digital paint—combine dramatic perspectives, facsimiles of space-race ephemera, and collaged STEM equations, enhancing Slade’s spry narrative. A respectful, important tribute to an instrumental rocket scientist." —Kirkus Reviews

"Slade...follows noted chemist Morgan from her North Dakota childhood working on the family farm to the triumph of watching the rocket that launched the U.S.’s first satellite into Earth’s orbit—using fuel she developed—with many obstacles and challenges along the way. Comport’s...illustrations...are effective in showing the discrimination Morgan faced as a young female chemist in the 1940s, her isolation surrounded by men, and the wonderment of her accomplishments....An engaging introduction to one woman’s mostly unheralded contributions to American space flight." —The Horn Book

"[Suzanne Slade]...profiles another woman scientist who played a significant role in this country’s early space program...Slade follows Mary Sherman Morgan from a North Dakota farm to a lab in California, where her 'passion for chemistry' drove her to become 'the rocket fuel expert,' and to develop the powerful-yet-stable fuel that put Explorer I into orbit in 1958. Comport outfits Morgan in nerdy period eyeglasses, standing confidently next to the tools of her profession amid swirls of equations." —Booklist

"Slade introduces a little-known hero of the space race in this dynamically illustrated portrayal of rocket fuel scientist Mary Sherman Morgan. Wern Comport’s vivid multimedia illustrations depict Morgan and other engineers at work in images that teem with equations, data tables, formulas, and slide rules...Mary’s example of perseverance and glass ceiling–shattering delivers a motivating message for would-be scientists." —Publishers Weekly

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