Counting on Katherine

Title: Counting on Katherine

Author: Helaine Becker

Illustrator: Dow Phumiruk

Picture Book

Katherine Johnson loved Math. She showed unusual talent in Math and Science even as a young girl, and continue to shine during school. However, Katherine lived in the segregated South where she was not allowed to attend the white High School. Her parents moved in order to send her to High School. She then continued on to college and became a school teacher. Then came the Space Race. During the Space Race, computers were large and unusual, so NACA, which preceded the modern NASA, used human ‘computers.’ Katherine Johnson became a human-computer. Could she help put a man in Space? And keep the astronauts safe?