Blast off! How Mary Sherman Morgan fueled America into space

The author of A Computer Called Katherine (2019) profiles another woman scientist who played a significant role in this country's early space program--so unrecognizably that even Wernher von Braun had to address his thank-you letter to "Dear Unknown Lady." Filling out the skimpy historical record with, she admits, bits of invented detail, Slade follows Mary Sherman Morgan from a North Dakota farm to a lab in California, where her "passion for chemistry" drove her to become "the rocket fuel expert" and to develop the powerful-yet-stable fuel that put Explorer I into orbit in 1958. Comport outfits Morgan in nerdy period eyeglasses, standing confidently next to the tools of her profession amid swirls of equations. The best clue to Morgan's character, though, is embedded in the back matter, where, along with more about the satellite and the Juno I rocket, readers will learn that her original name for her fuel, Bagel (for its association with "lox," the shorthand term for liquid oxygen) was rejected by the army in favor of the more "scientific"-sounding "hydyne."

Slade introduces a little-known hero of the space race in this dynamically illustrated portrayal of rocket fuel scientist Mary Sherman Morgan (1921--2004), a key figure in developing the propellant that powered America's first satellite into space in 1958. A chronological narrative details Morgan's late start to school, at age eight, before tracing her early career and diving into the excitement of the top-secret task that required the lab's "best man"--Morgan. Wern Comport's vivid multimedia illustrations depict Morgan and other engineers at work in images that teem with equations, data tables, formulas, and slide rules. While the book presents as a biography, an author's note clarifies that a need "to creatively fill in a few gaps" renders the book, instead, historical fiction. Regardless, Mary's example of perseverance and glass ceiling--shattering delivers a motivating message for would-be scientists. Back matter concludes. Ages 7--10. (Apr.)

Slade (A Computer Called Katherine, rev. 7/19; June Almeida, Virus Detective!) follows noted chemist Morgan from her North Dakota childhood working on the family farm to the triumph of watching the rocket that launched the U.S.'s first satellite into Earth's orbit -- using fuel she developed -- with many obstacles and challenges along the way. Comport's (Wonder Women of Science) illustrations ("a hybrid of collage, digital collage, prisma drawings on vellum, and digital paint") are effective in showing the discrimination Morgan faced as a young female chemist in the 1940s, her isolation surrounded by men, and the wonderment of her accomplishments. Some of the spreads, for example, layer graph-paper squares and scientific formulas over Midcentury-style starbursts and linoleum patterns, appearing more complex in parallel with the difficulty of problems Morgan solved. Detailed back matter includes a timeline of Morgan's life and further biographical information; photographs; more on the rocket and satellite; and an author's note explaining that since such little information about her subject's work was available, Slade "used known facts to creatively fill in a few gaps." An engaging introduction to one woman's mostly unheralded contributions to American space flight. Laura Koenig March/April 2022 p.(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Prolific STEM writer Slade spotlights Mary Sherman Morgan (1921-2004) and her role in the launch of the United States' first successful satellite. As a young girl, Mary's parents delayed her education and filled her days with grueling chores on their North Dakota farm. Despite starting school at age 8, she excelled academically and bucked her family by putting herself through two years of college, where she majored in chemistry. She accepted lab jobs in Ohio and California during the war years and diligently researched fuel-oxidizer combinations to determine how they affected flight, becoming an expert in her male-dominated field. In 1953, Sherman Morgan was appointed leader of a "top secret project" to create the fuel for a rocket called Juno I that would carry America's first satellite, Explorer I, into space. Slade ably details Sherman Morgan's quest to determine which combination of fuels would provide the stability and energy to propel the rocket into space. With little help from her two inexperienced assistants, Morgan ultimately invented a fuel concoction known as hydyne that, after two years of field testing, was successfully used to power Juno I. Comport's lively illustrations--rendered using color pencil, traditional collage, digital collage, and digital paint--combine dramatic perspectives, facsimiles of space-race ephemera, and collaged STEM equations, enhancing Slade's spry narrative. Excellent backmatter includes an author's note in which Slade acknowledges her creative use of "known facts" to plug research gaps. All characters present White. A respectful, important tribute to an instrumental rocket scientist. (chronology, further facts, selected bibliography, photos) (Picture-book biography. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.