Reaching for the Moon

This rich volume is a national treasure. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Captivating, informative, and inspiringEasy to follow and hard to put down. School Library Journal (starred review)

The inspiring autobiography of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, who helped launch Apollo 11.

As a young girl, Katherine Johnson showed an exceptional aptitude for math. In school she quickly skipped ahead several grades and was soon studying complex equations with the support of a professor who saw great promise in her. But ability and opportunity did not always go hand in hand. As an African American and a girl growing up in an era of brutal racism and sexism, Katherine faced daily challenges. Still, she lived her life with her fathers words in mind: You are no better than anyone else, and nobody else is better than you.

In the early 1950s, Katherine was thrilled to join the organization th