Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist
By Lucinda Dyer,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Inspiring memoir of trailblazing Latina rocket scientist.
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What's the Story?
Sylvia Acevedo's PATH TO THE STARS was not an easy one. She was raised in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in the 1960s and '70s -- a time when girls who wanted to become engineers or scientists were easily dismissed and the idea that a Latina girl might aspire to such things was almost inconceivable. But she did have a few things working for her. Sylvia's father was a chemist with a passion for books and libraries, and her mother, who had immigrated from Mexico and struggled early on to learn English, was determined that her children get the best education possible. That meant leaving their close-knit Spanish-speaking neighborhood when Sylvia was in second grade and moving to a new neighborhood with better schools. As one of the few Latino students in the school, she more often than not felt isolated and unwelcome -- until she met another girl named Sylvia who was a Brownie and who invited her to join the troop. While working on her Girl Scout Science badge, Sylvia built a model rocket and began to see new possibilities for her future. In high school she set her sights on becoming an industrial engineer and earned a scholarship to New Mexico State. She then went on to become a rocket scientist at the Jet Propulsion Labs, where she worked on the Voyager mission's fly-by of Jupiter and its moons and the Solar Polar/Probe missions.
Is It Any Good?
This compelling and deeply personal autobiography of a pioneering Latina rocket scientist is sure to inspire any young girl who's an aspiring scientist or engineer. Path to the Stars focuses primarily on Acevedo's elementary and junior high years, and some readers may be disappointed that Acevedo didn't write more about her life in and after college.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the challenges a "nerdy" girl like Sylvia faced in Path to the Stars. Do you think things have changed since Sylvia Acevedo was in school? Are girls in your school encouraged to pursue an interest in math and science?
Have you (or your parents) ever been the new kid at school or on a sports team? How hard was it to make friends and find a place to fit in?
Male and female roles were pretty defined in Sylvia's family ... until she decided to learn how to fix the family car. What's it like in your family: Are there things that only men and boys do and things that only girls and women do? Is there something you'd like to try, but you get the message that "only boys/girls do that"?
Book Details
- Author: Sylvia Acevedo
- Genre: Autobiography
- Topics: STEM, Book Characters, Brothers and Sisters, Great Girl Role Models, Science and Nature
- Book type: Non-Fiction
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- Publication date: October 4, 2018
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 10 - 12
- Number of pages: 309
- Available on: Nook, Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: October 23, 2018
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