Guía para padres sobre Hidden Figures Young Readers' Edition

Chockablock with historical detail, this book celebrating the remarkable accomplishments of four African-American female math whizzes who worked for NASA during segregation inspires mightily. Hidden Figures Young Readers' Edition covers much of the same territory of the film Hidden Figures, though it starts earlier than the space race, in 1943, giving readers a sense of the World War II years as well. Author Margot Lee Shetterly excels at providing historical context, and since she wrote this version of the book for young readers, she's careful to explain information that might be familiar to adults. For instance, she provides a list of ways blacks and whites were kept separate under segregation laws and explains that in World War II the Germans "were fighting on the other side of the war."

Shetterly also takes her job as historian seriously and doesn't overly spice the story by attributing unverifiable thoughts or dialogue to the women; the sources for all dialogue are credited at the end of the book. This might make the material a bit drier in places than kid readers are used to, so the book and film could enrich each other with pairing. These powerful STEM models who succeeded despite societal restrictions are a potent inspiration to young African-American girls -- and everyone.