Hidden Figures Young Readers' Edition

It is well written & informative book. It was short & easy to read to my liking!
I found it educational or a reminder that this book included the the important events listed in US history.
Loved it!

It is well written & informative book. It was short & easy to read to my liking!
I found it educational or a reminder that this book included the the important events listed in US history.
Loved it!

Purchased the adult version and Young Readers edition and feel the Young Readers Edition is dense and not really written for young readers. Could not recommend this to engender love of reading in Young Readers. Great history which all should be aware of, but not put together in a fresh way in this book.

Good facts about racial prejudice and NASA are given, but too many details about other things are in the book. The book became tedious to read.
I had a hard time finishing the book.
Some of the author's writing is very good.
The film about Hidden Figures is excellent and exciting at times. It stars Kevin Kostner. Be sure to see the movie (released 2016).
The story is true and the ending of the film makes screen comments about how the 3 heroines ended up in life.

Even though I clicked the wrong book and got the "children's edition", this book gave great details of each of these mathematicians. It also gave great historical details for the time period that further enhanced the story of these inspiring women. Without these "computing" ladies we may still be waiting to get to the moon. It speaks volumes that the astronauts trusted their mathematical computations more than the computer of that era.
These teams of women (white and black) didn't compete but compliment each others work and abilities.

Good facts about racial prejudice and NASA are given, but too many details about other things are in the book. The book became tedious to read.
I had a hard time finishing the book.
Some of the author's writing is very good.
The film about Hidden Figures is excellent and exciting at times. It stars Kevin Kostner. Be sure to see the movie (released 2016).
The story is true and the ending of the film makes screen comments about how the 3 heroines ended up in life.

Even though I clicked the wrong book and got the "children's edition", this book gave great details of each of these mathematicians. It also gave great historical details for the time period that further enhanced the story of these inspiring women. Without these "computing" ladies we may still be waiting to get to the moon. It speaks volumes that the astronauts trusted their mathematical computations more than the computer of that era.
These teams of women (white and black) didn't compete but compliment each others work and abilities.

I intend to take my daughter to see the movie 'Hidden figures', so when I saw there was a young reading version of the true story behind the movie, I knew I had to get it for her.
She told me I should read it right after her, because it's about science and space and also about women's and African American rights. She loved reading it and I love that she can learn about important issues in her level that is not too overwhelming. I would recommend this book to kids ages 10 and up

Wonderful book! I could not put it down. It is also a good history lesson for the Hampton Roads area. It's amazing, I was also fighting discrimination across the water at the Naval Air Station 20 yrs. later and went through some of the same things in the Information Technology (IT) Department. The conclusion is that fighting discrimination is a spiritual battle and GOD calls you to the battle! GOD has HIS appointment time when the truth is revealed. This is a MUST buy for everyone!

This book should be read by everyone. I got it for my granddaughters but have asked everyone to read it. It is astounding that it took decades - 7, 8 - to even acknowledge what these women did. If it weren't for the stupid white men who ran everything at the time, America would have been ahead of Russia from the start.

My nine year old daughters saw the movie and were greatly inspired by it-the intelligent women who earned respect and important positions in the space program despite prejudice.. I bought each of them one of these books. They just started reading them and are very excited about this opportunity to learn more about these incredible women and also about the space program. One of my daughters in particular is excited about the black and white pictures since they make her feel she is really going back in time. This book provides an opportunity for them to continue to feel a part of the technical achievements of these talented and charismatic women and a part of their fight for justice.

Being a middle school math/science teacher, I'm always looking for some way to show my students that everyone is good in math and science. I will be incorporating this edition in my lesson plans as soon as our library gets in copies of it.

I ordered this book after I saw the movie. The elementary school where I am substituting in second grade are getting inspired by the stories of these persistent women. It's not just a story of African American women who were pioneers in the space industry but an inspiring story for all students to keep going and not to ever give up on their dreams, desires and ambitions.

It is good to see that this original book written for adults has also been edited to appeal to younger readers. If students have had the opportunity to see the movie, this may motivate them to read this book, thereby introducing them to explore the field of non-fiction.

Great story, this book is very wordy though. At times even hard to read because it was so wordy. It started getting interesting in the second half but I truly felt that parts of the first half were just too much information. It was very overwhelming! I know it was a biography of the ladies, but it seemed confusing at times. Nevertheless, inspiring story!

Young readers edition! I did not pay attention to this detail and it may be written for a younger audience. I'm not sure how it compares to the original but it's good either way I'm sure! The movie is still consistently packed every weekend and I haven't been able to see it so I'm happy to be able to read the book in the meantime because I was going to anyway.

A history of the job of human calculators in the US, specifically African American women from the WWII era through the Apollo missions who worked for the NACA base at Langley (which later became NASA and moved most of its operations to Houston). The book looks at the history by following four real African American women who were mathematicians and worked for NACA throughout this time period and made many unsung contributions to the US aeronautical field.

I didn't realize how much history of aeronautics development in WWII and the Cold War space race would be involved in this. Not that that's a bad thing. It is necessary to fully appreciate these women and their contributions to the field of mathematics and science. Really only half of the book is about the women themselves, but it is still an engaging read. It is a great look at some unsung heroes and women who showed that the female mind can be just as brilliant as the male mind when it comes to crunching numbers. Good stuff. This is the young reader's edition so I'm curious to know how it differs in content from the adult version. I feel like I got the full story though and I'm not going to rush out and read the adult one. It definitely should help kids realize they can be anything they want to be.

Notes on content: Racial discrimination and segregation is discussed but no racial slurs are included in the text that I remember. No sexual content. Violence involved in racial issues of the time period is briefly touched as is WWII violence but nothing gory. One space catastrophe when the crew burned in the cockpit is talked about.

I still haven’t seen the Hidden Figures movie, but thank goodness it did not take a lifetime for the book to come available at the library. Although the edition I received was the Young Readers’ Edition…and I’m not sure how much of a difference (if there is one) between this and the regular version? I can tell you this only took me two hours to read, so do with it what you will. If there is an adult version out there, let me know what you thought of it!

I will never be over the amount of erasure that went into our school history books. Learning that might have been the biggest shock to my white privilege–I take education so seriously, and having huge chunks of information left out is unfathomable. I will slowly uncover some of what I have missed, but those who don’t care to extend their education will never know anything outside of those empty textbooks.

That is why it is so crucial for stories like Hidden Figures to be told. We learned about the space race, but all of the faces in that story were white. We never learned about the women at Langley, much less about the black computers crunching the numbers. Margot Lee Shetterly details each woman’s journey through Langley’s West Side Computing Office and into NASA.

Now, because I had the YRE, these stories were simplified. I am unsure what or if anything was left out or minimized. Nothing was extremely vivid–I have a feeling a lot of the edges were sanded down. On one hand, it was nice to have a lot of the science explained at a lower level, since I am the furthest thing from a mathematician. But I am quite interested in a more detailed depiction of these women’s lives. Also, we hardly got any information on Christine. The introduction sounds like there were four women involved, but the book is mostly about Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine. I would have liked a little bit more in her section.

I’m looking even more forward to seeing the movie now. And maybe I’ll see if the library has the full version. Maybe I just requested the wrong book–it has been known to happen! If you liked the movie, I highly recommend reading more about these women! And question your history books. What else are we missing from those pages?

“Hidden Figures” is an inspiring and exciting book.

In protests that resembled those in Greensboro, Christine and some of her classmates marched to the lunch counter at the local drugstore in downtown Hampton. They tried to order food, but the attendants at the counter refused to serve them, so they then sat, reading or working on homework assignments. They were quietly protesting. When they refused to leave, the owner shut down the store in the middle of the afternoon. The next month, five hundred students staged a peaceful protest in downtown Hampton.

“We want to be treated as American citizens,” said the outspoken leaders of the student movement. “If this means integration in all areas of life, then that is what we want.” The Hampton Institute campus was alive with the possibility of significant social change. Christine also joined voter registration drives, walking door-to-door in black neighborhoods urging residents to register to vote in the November 1960 elections.

A rumor circulated on campus that the astronauts supported the student protests. The astronauts represented mainstream America. The very idea that those buzz-cut, middle American men were standing with the student activists, adding their voices to the call for equal opportunity for all Americans, was thrilling. It didn’t matter if it was true. It inspired them either way.

(Margot Lee Shutterly, Hidden Figures, p. 163)

This book talks in detail about the people from the African American society who made enormous contributions in NACA(later on named as NASA) space projects. The hardships and the biases that they dealt with was truly difficult and discouraging but they never ever gave up. Anyone dealing with hardships in life will be able to benefit from the various lessons this book has to offer. Personally after reading the book I felt grateful for the presence of these brave courageous ladies, because of whom women have been able to progress and have their own careers. These ladies have shown the next gen women that nothing is impossible, that they can have a career and a family at the same time. Thanks to the author for this lovely book

An easy reader for children through middle school. It helps them understand the historical background significant to the female human computers in America's space race in a tone and style that is easy to grasp.

I am now reading the full version and don't know why they felt compelled to eliminate the emotion and character from the Young Reader version. It read like a boring history lesson. Both versions do get bogged down in presenting long detailed passages that cause your eyes to glaze over. It is still a story well worth reading.

Being a graduate with a degree in Electrical Engineering, I was drawn to this book. Being a mother of 2 fourth grade girls, I was drawn to this book. Mixing these two aspects of my life, this was a must read for our homeschool read aloud time. It was encouraging to read the rich history of black women engineers. I would highly recurrent this book especial to those young girls interested in engineering science and mathematics.

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shutterly is a breakthrough in uncovering the history of the African American pursuit for equality. By dedicating the entire novel to stories of oppressed African American women, a new light is shed on segregation and racism in the workplace. Through highlighting highly intelligent and capable women, Shutterly emphasizes that African American women were just as, if not more qualified to aid in boosting the technological and economical footholds of the United States when compared to white men and women. These brave women risked everything to elevate themselves from the tail end of the societal class pyramid; and, even after making it to the top, were still victims of the same oppression they would have faced at the bottom. Employers were desperate for female work-- intelligent and skillful female work-- to fill the empty seats men had left behind for the war. With every white woman snatched up the moment she set foot into the job market, many employers faced the seemingly impossible task of hiring an African American female. Despite the resistance these revolutionary women had faced since the day they were born, they had educated themselves and pushed to become the most skilled and genuinely worthy people they could become. This novel tells the story of great oppression, overcoming inequalities, and the lifelong fight for dignity and worth that every person, men and women alike, deserve. Shutterly reminds us of these struggles in the most refreshing way, telling the story from a completely overlooked perspective that could easily change the way you imagine life as an African American woman in the 1960’s.

Should be required reading in school curriculum. Very informative book about struggle against U.S. institutional segregation overall and the triumph of tenacity, perseverance, and hard work of these young, gifted, and Black female mathematicians who played pivitol roles at NASA and were true pioneers.

It is a captivating story. Not only bicause of the personal qualifications and values of the women involved, but the description of the realitiy of discrimination of black females, so recent and with effects up to our time, and the development of aerial technology and industry in the USA and the influence of II World War.

This book tells a story that is not in any history book. Anyone who is interested in space or NASA would love this book. It shows how important Black people are and have been in science and mathematics. It also shows that women are just as smart as men.

I intend to take my daughter to see the movie 'Hidden figures', so when I saw there was a young reading version of the true story behind the movie, I knew I had to get it for her.
She told me I should read it right after her, because it's about science and space and also about women's and African American rights. She loved reading it and I love that she can learn about important issues in her level that is not too overwhelming. I would recommend this book to kids ages 10 and up

Being a graduate with a degree in Electrical Engineering, I was drawn to this book. Being a mother of 2 fourth grade girls, I was drawn to this book. Mixing these two aspects of my life, this was a must read for our homeschool read aloud time. It was encouraging to read the rich history of black women engineers. I would highly recurrent this book especial to those young girls interested in engineering science and mathematics.

This book tells a story that is not in any history book. Anyone who is interested in space or NASA would love this book. It shows how important Black people are and have been in science and mathematics. It also shows that women are just as smart as men.