Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream - Review

1.   BIBLIOGRAPHY

Stone, Tanya Lee 2009. ALMOST ASTRONAUTS; 13 WOMEN WHO DARED TO DREAM, Somerville, MA:  Candlewick Press. ISBN 9780329700805

2.   PLOT SUMMARY

ALMOST ASTRONAUTS: 13 WOMEN WHO DARED TO DREAM is a telling nonfiction book that describes how 13 that wanted to be in the Mercury Space Program in the 1960’s.  Women were not considered equal to men until these women pilots had to prove themselves as “capable as men”.  Some of the women were even more qualified, with more flight hours than the men of that time.  They were put through all test and proved themselves capable, yet were still denied the chance to show they had the “right stuff”.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This social history style of book was an interesting read and definitely focused on the challenges of women trying to overcome the prejudices of the 1960’s.  Women were “considered minorities” and the book gave examples on how these women were put through many tests to prove their ability. 

The book was written in a picture-book format, with examples of space history and the test that these women endured.  Displayed were photos of like Jerri Cobb quoting “floats in an isolations tank”.  There were also cartoons with women fighting for women’s rights. Letters shown gave documentation and a true timeline of the events. 

4.   REVIEW EXCERPT (S)

Winner of the Robert F. Smibert Medal (American Library Association’s Award for Best Nonfiction Book of the year 2010

5.   CONNECTIONS

·      History connections with American Women and Women’s Rights.

·      Create poster over Space Exploration and their tragic disasters.