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BLACK STARS IN ORBIT

Name: BLACK STARS IN ORBIT
Author: Khephra Burns
ISBN: 0-15-200432-7

NASA'S AFRICAN AMERICAN ASTRONAUTS

by Khephra Burns & William Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1995

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The collaborators on a 1990 television documentary with the same title have turned that work into a book, including profiles of recent black astronauts. The vocabulary level is occasionally too high, but clear, straightforward writing makes the text accessible to most. The historical coverage begins with the Tuskegee Experiment, a program to train black fighter pilots in WW II, continues through the 1950s desegregation of the armed forces, the 1960s space race, NASA's 1970s recruitment of minorities, and the shuttle program of the 1980s and 1990s. Burns and Miles pull no punches in their descriptions of how discrimination prevented AfricanAmericans from being the first in space, and how the shuttle missions, which require scientists and not just pilots, have provided more opportunities for blacks. Related with passion and conviction, this is a stirring portrait of a remarkable group of individuals. The book succeeds on not one front, but two: it puts forth the history of the U.S. space program from the perspective of African-Americans, and shows how the space race can be viewed as a paradigm of the civil rights struggle. (B&W photos, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-15-200432-7

Page Count: 80

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1995

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
MANSA MUSA
by Khephra Burns & illustrated by Diane Dillon & Leo Dillon

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CLUES TO THE UNIVERSE

by Christina Li ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 12, 2021

Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.

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An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.

Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.

Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)

Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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WEATHER

by Seymour Simon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1993

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Remarking that ``nothing about the weather is very simple,'' Simon goes on to describe how the sun, atmosphere, earth's rotation, ground cover, altitude, pollution, and other factors influence it; briefly, he also tells how weather balloons gather information. Even for this outstanding author, it's a tough, complex topic, and he's not entirely successful in simplifying it; moreover, the import of the striking uncaptioned color photos here isn't always clear. One passage—``Cumulus clouds sometimes build up into towering masses called cumulus congestus, or swelling cumulus, which may turn into cumulonimbus clouds''—is superimposed on a blue-gray, cloud-covered landscape. But which kind of clouds are these? Another photo, in blue-black and white, shows what might be precipitation in the upper atmosphere, or rain falling on a darkened landscape, or...? Generally competent and certainly attractive, but not Simon's best. (Nonfiction. 10-12)