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TECHNOLOGY
Ottaviani, Jim

Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier

168 pp. | Roaring Brook/First Second | February, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-1-62672-877-6 $19.99 | Paper ISBN 978-1-250-76003-6 $12.99
(2) YA Illustrated by Maris Wicks. At the attention-grabbing start of ­Ottaviani and Wicks's second graphic ­collaboration (Primates, rev. 5/13), a series of panels shows a "famous astronaut" (gender intentionally obscured) shedding gear one item at a time until only stark white long johns remain. With a page-turn, readers meet (female) ex-astronaut Mary Cleave, who drolly admits that she's "maybe not so famous." But she gets the spotlight here--and the narrative reins, too--in a dense and riveting biography that not only tracks Cleave's path to NASA's Group 9 (the second astronaut class to include women) but also weaves in the voices of many trailblazers: Valentina Tereshkova, a Soviet cosmonaut and the first woman in space; the Mercury 13, thirteen American women who passed the same rigorous physical tests given to male astronaut candidates; and Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. A well-researched and lively text and tidily composed yet expressive illustrations capture the women's passion, ambition, and know-how--and their indignation and fury at the sexism they faced. Inspirational and funny ("That was Sally's ride") and full of nitty-gritty scientific details about astronaut training and life and work aboard a space shuttle, the book illuminates the women's tough journey to prove that "space is for everyone." Back matter includes an author's note (addressing composite characters and invented dialogue), a bibliography, a how-this-book-was-made spread, and character sketches.
Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2020

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