Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream

Bibliography

Stone, Tanya Lee. 2009. Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream. Somerville, Mass: Candlewick Press. ISBN 9780763636111

Plot Summary

Almost Astronauts is the dramatic, true story of the “Mercury 13” women pioneers from the Lovelace Women in Space Program. Beginning in 1960, these female pilots were the first women to be accepted and trained as astronauts. Although never sent to space, they  started to break down the barrier against women training to be astronauts. This book honors their courage and sheds light on this largely unknown endeavor. The final chapter is devoted to the continued accomplishments of women in space today, who rest on the shoulders of these brave women.

Critical Analysis

Stone weaves together images and personal stories of the compelling events and cutting politics surrounding the Lovelace Women in Space Program. The author did extensive research, speaking to the experts involved in this project. Increasing her credibility, she not only flew a plane, but observed the training conditions of jet fighters today. This increased the resonance of her narrative.

The table of contents is more than a listing of chapters. It displays the extensive sources of the book clearly, so readers can quickly navigate to further reading, webliography, photography credits, index, and acknowledgements. This establishes the research-based credibility of the information. It is further laid out in a user-friendly chronology, from 1960-1962, and then again two decades later in 1978.

This book draws the reader in, so they want to learn about the women of this lesser-known program. Stone also avoids stereotyping the women by keeping to the facts. The images, with subtitles, are helpful in setting the scene. This book would be fun to read cover to cover, or to skim through the images. The writing is clear, although bold fonts, or pull-outs, listing important dates and milestones would have improved its readability. There is a lot of good information, but it is sometimes hard to isolate key information among the text. 

Personally, having just spent time at the NASA Space Center in Houston, it would have been nice to see an area devoted to this program and its contributions to women in space. I have written the Director of Education to make her aware of this book and this program. 

Review Excerpts

This book is a:

  -  Sibert Medal Award

  -  YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Honor

  -  Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor

  -  NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor 

  -  Bank Street Flora Stieglitz Straus Award

  -  Jane Addams Honor  

  -  Kirkus Best YA Books of 2009

  -  Notable Social Studies Trade Book

  -  Outstanding Science Trade Book

  -  Horn Book Fanfare

  -  ALA Notable Book

Kirkus Review

"Fascinating, dramatic story...The author offers great insight into how deeply ingrained sexism was in American society and its institutions. Handsomely illustrated with photographs, this empowering, impassioned story will leave readers inspired.”

Booklist

“Space gals. Astronettes. Astrodolls . . . Who do these women think they are?” The media mocked them. Male astronauts did not want them, and neither did then vice-president Lyndon Johnson. If they were to let women into the space program, blacks and other minorities would be next. Nearly 20 years before the U.S. officially admitted women into the astronaut program, 13 women, known as the Mercury 13, fought for the right to soar into space. This dramatic, large-size photo-essay covers their stories, along with the exciting politics of the women’s liberation struggle in the 1950s and ’60s (“What is a woman’s place?”) and the breakthrough science and technology surrounding space exploration, including details of the would-be astronauts’ tests and training.”

Connections

-  After reading this book, students can research women in space today on the International Space   

   Station and operations at NASA.

-  Social Studies classes can study the laws in place then, versus now, and discuss the effects of the 

    implementation of these laws. 

-  Other books about prominent women in space:
          -  Atkins, Jeannine. Wings and Rockets: The Story of Women in Air and Space. ISBN  

             9780374384500

          -  Ride, Sally, and Susan Okie. To Space & Back. ISBN 9780688091125

          -  Thimmesh, Catherine. Team Moon: how 400,000 people landed Apollo 11 on the moon. ISBN 

             9780618507573