Snigdha Chaudhary - Dec 23 2022 Introduction
Last month we read the book, ‘’Katherine Johnson’. The book is written by Ebony Joy Wilkins and illustrated by Charlotte Ager. It has about 128 pages and 12 chapters. It talks about Katherine Johnson’s life as an African-american girl who stood strong even though she was discriminated against.
Plot
Katherine Johnson was an African-american girl who loved to count, she even envied her siblings for going to school before her even though she was not old enough. She loved to ask questions and even though she was black and a girl, she still was very strong and didn't give up. At her time people were discriminated against because of their gender, and skin color. So she had it very hard growing up. She was very smart too and people even said that her secret to becoming this smart was because her hand was always up in class. She even graduated high school at the age of 14. So because of that she had to wait for college, because she was ready for college but college wasn’t ready for her. However she took this time as an opportunity to learn more and study.
One day when she was teaching in class she got an opportunity from one of the professors from her college saying that she could study in University. She worked hard in the university and went there with the other two chosen students. She was bullied and discriminated against there but she didn't let it get the best of her and stood strong. She worked so hard that the teachers started to think of her as a good person and stopped discriminating against her. She even got to have extra classes because she was good at all of the classes and topped every single one of them. One of the professors even introduced her to horoscopes and star signs which increased her love for space and astrology. One of them even introduced her into becoming a research mathematician. After she graduated university she worked as a teacher and soon got married to James A. Goble. She thought of how much her parents sacrificed for her and her siblings so she took care of having a family first rather than being a research mathematician.
They had three children in Newport, virginia. Who were named Joylette, Katherine and Constance. She then continued to work as a teacher while James worked as a carpenter. After that World War II kicked in and more women started to work and there were lots of job offers for them too. NASA was one of the company’s that were hiring so she tried to get it but failed at first and then the next year she got into NASA and worked as a human computer. She even realized that there was discrimination at the workplace and got herself to a higher position. James A Goble also died but her salary was enough to support the family, she married someone else later as well. Soon the space race between the Soviet Union came and even though the union was before them, they didn't give up and won the race with Katherines help. They got medals and because of Katherine they were successful in many more missions that came. Katherine even got the medal of freedom from US president Obama.
Critical Analysis
It was honestly a very great book, with very nice information. I love that Katherine didn't give up on her life even though she was discriminated against. She took everything as an opportunity and stood strong. Some people would have just given up if they were born like her. She probably inspires lots of young people. I liked that everything in the book is decorated and written in a simple way. The illustrations are also very nice. And there are some choice questions at the end.
I don’t exactly see any flaws in this book at all and I would definitely recommend this book for the ages from 8 - 21. Honestly in my opinion I think this is a very inspirational and motivational book.
Snigdha Chaudhary
Grade: V, Yangra
Author: Ebony Joy Wilkins
Illustrator: Charlotte Ager
Genre: Biography
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