Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream

Stone, Tanya Lee, Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream, Candlewick Press, 2009, 133 pgs.

Summary: This book depicts the testing that Jerrie Cobb and 12 other women went through during the space race to determine if possibly women would be better astronauts than men or even at the least could women even be astronauts. Some of the tests described seemed so silly to me that I found myself shaking my head in disgust. The artful nature of the layout of the book allows for a pictorial journey as well as the reader learns more about what it took to become an astronaut during the space race. The book is full of pictures and other images to accent and illustrate for the reader what the women looked like as well as what the different tests looked like. The barriers that Jerrie Cobb and the 12 other women had to overcome continue to grow as it becomes obvious that women are just as capable as men to be astronauts, but what is obvious to some is not to others.

Evaluation: Having read The Right Stuff I was surprised to learn that the events described in this book were occurring around the same time. Being a woman myself I couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction at the abilities described in this book. I fell in love with this novel from the start. Growing up as a girl that could always do just about anything I wanted, I found it eye opening to see the different barriers that women had to get over. I am sure many Young Adults are as unaware as I am about this unique type of discrimination. I also loved the feeling of “you can do anything you set your mind to” that this book projected.

Annotation: Jerrie Cobb had one shot to show that she was a better astronaut than the men. For anybody else that would have been impossible, for her it was a walk in the park.

Significance of Book: This book highlights what women had to go through well after they were granted “equal rights”.

Genre/subject: space, non-fiction, women’s rights

Awards:

National:

• · ALA Notable Children's Books: 2010
• · Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award: 2010

Why I selected the book: Space travel is always exciting to read about and having read The Right Stuff I was interested to see what women were doing during that time period.

Price: $24.99