Parents' Guide to

She Persisted: Sally Ride

By Carrie Kingsley, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 6+

Inspiring biography of a groundbreaking female astronaut.

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What's the Story?

SHE PERSISTED: SALLY RIDE follows the life of the young California-born athlete who would become a physicist and celebrated female astronaut. Ride spent many years being bored in school and didn't work hard until she found something she wanted to do more than anything: be an astronaut. From that moment on, she was relentless, overcoming personal obstacles and institutional sexism to achieve something only a very few humans have ever done. This biography follows Ride from her early days as a competitive tennis player through her later years investigating the Challenger space disaster and her role creating educational opportunities for young people.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Artfully showcasing the dreams this American icon achieved through hard work, this inspiring biography celebrates both grit and gratitude while calling out the rampant sexism Sally Ride faced. It would be easy to take a negative tone when covering the many inequalities in Sally Ride: She Persisted, but the authors spin it into a positive, acknowledging the hardships but focusing on her tenacity and dedication. There's a lot of space program history here, and some great information about Ride's post-astronaut life and work. Readers can see their connection to her in the science projects they do and in an outer space that still calls to so many minds, young and old.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how times have changed since her first space flight in She Persisted: Sally Ride, and how they're still the same. Do you think female astronauts are treated differently from males, or have things evened out?

  • Would you want to go to space? What would you be willing to give up to go?

  • Have you ever experienced anything like Sally Ride being told she was too science-oriented?

Book Details

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