by Charles R. Smith, Jr.
Illustrated by Evening Monteiro
Orchard Books
an imprint of Scholastic, Inc.
2025
40 pages
ISBN:9781338815290
Publication Date: December 2, 2025
A little girl named Mae Jamison discovers her life's dream looking through a telescope. Inquisitive, curious, intelligent young Mae dreams of seeing the stars up close someday. Some day. She is inspired by a television character: Lieutenant Uhura of "Star Trek" who plays an important role in space. The character is a strong Black female. Some day, Mae thinks.
Mae enters Stanford at age SIXTEEN and earns two degrees. She goes to medical school at Cornell and earns an M.D. before serving in the Peace Corps.
Taking every opportunity to learn, she becomes a fluent speaker of Swahili, Russian and Japanese. NASA chooses her as one of fifteen potential astronauts out of a pool of 2000 entrants.
Mae becomes the first Black female astronaut in space in 1992. This woman who was a little girl who stared through the telescope and thought, "some day" succeeded in fulfilling her childhood dream. Her life comes full circle when she appears on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," becoming the first real astronaut to appear in the show.
May Mae be the inspiration for the next generation of little girls and dreamers!
Her timeline follows the story on a page titled "Mae Jamison Countdown." Brilliantly illustrated by the talented Evening Monteiro, this is one perfect picture book to inspire creatives and artists.
Highly, highly recommended for the dreamers out there ages 2 and up. A must have for every child's bookshelf.
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