Helaine Becker - Author

Counting on Katherine How Katherine Johnson Put Astronauts on the Moon

Winner of the information book category of the UKLA Book Awards 2020. Katherine Johnson is the mathematical genius who helped make the historic Apollo 11 moon landings possible and made sure that Apollo 13 returned home safely when the mission was in critical danger. As a child, Katherine loved to count. She counted the steps on the road, the number of dishes and spoons she washed in the kitchen sink, everything! Boundless, curious, and excited by calculations, young Katherine longed to know as much as she could about maths, about the universe . . . Helaine Becker interviewed Katherine and her family for this authorized biography. From Katherine's early beginnings as a gifted student to her heroic accomplishments as a prominent mathematician at NASA, this is the true story of a groundbreaking African-American woman who went above and beyond what was expected of her in the 1960s, saving lives and making enormous contributions to history. Featuring Dow Phumiruk's gorgeous full-colour illustrations throughout.

Emmy Noether The Most Important Mathematician You've Never Heard Of

Gottika

12 year-old, Dany lives with his father, the scholarly Rob Judah, and his silent mother Rachel in the Stoon ghetto on the outskirts of Gottika. Under the ruthless Count Pol, the Stoon community are subject to military raids, prejudicial laws and restrictions on their culture and freedom. When Pol marries Dany's cousin Dalil to stoke further tension between Gottikans and Stoons, life gets harder still. Urged on by Dany, Rob Judah finally runs out of patience. Something must be done. One night, Rob Judah breaks curfew and goes down to the river. Dany follows and secretly watches as his father invokes illegal Stoon magic to raise a creature, in human form, from the mud. The Gol comes to live with the family and becomes the invincible protector of the Stoons. He foils plots, prevents violence against them, and starts to bring hope and happiness back to Dany's family. But then Rob Judah is framed for a brutal murder and thrown in Pol's dungeon. Now it is Dany's time to act. With the help of Moishe, Dalil and a wolf/dog hybrid named Khan, Dany sets out to save his father and defeat Pol once and for all. Along the way, he uncovers shocking family secrets, learns where Pol's vicious hatred of the Stoons comes from and he is gifted with an understanding of the sacred mysteries of life itself. Compelling, clever and full of twists and turns, Gottika reimagines the powerful Golem legend as a futuristic fantasy with a universal message.

Pirate Queen A Story of Zheng Yi Sao

The most powerful pirate in history was a woman who was born into poverty in Guangzhou, China, in the late 1700s. When pirates attacked her town and the captain took a liking to her, she saw a way out. Zheng Yi Sao agreed to marry him only if she got an equal share of his business. When her husband died six years later, she took command of the fleet. Over the next decade, the pirate queen built a fleet of over 1,800 ships and 70,000 men. On land and sea, Zheng Yi Sao's power rivaled the emperor himself. Time and again, her ships triumphed over the emperor's ships. When she was ready to retire, Zheng Yi Sao surrendered - on her own terms, of course. Even though there was a price on her head, she was able to negotiate her freedom, living in peace and prosperity for the rest of her days. Zheng Yi Sao's powerful story is told in lyrical prose by award-winning author Helaine Becker. Liz Wong's colorful, engaging illustrations illuminate this inspiring woman in history. An author's note provides historical context and outlines the challenges of researching a figure about whom little is known.

Megabugs And Other Prehistoric Critters that Roamed the Planet

As scary as it may seem, supersized, insect-like creatures used to roam the Earth long before humans. In this peek into prehistory, award-winning science writer Helaine Becker introduces seven of these megabugs, the ancestors of modern-day insects, spiders, crabs and other arthropods, which lived from 480 million to 47 million years ago. The book explores when, where and how they each lived, why they grew so big and what caused their extinction. Highly realistic illustrations show each megabug in its habitat. The end of the book includes a few supersized critters that are still around today!

Lines, Bars And Circles: How William Playfair Invented Graphs

More than 250 years ago, William Playfair was a dreamer who saw the world differently from other people. Early on, he attempted to apply his unique perspective to a series of career opportunities, although unfortunately only resulted in failure. Then, while writing a book about economics, Will's innovative vision inspired an idea that would set him apart: he created the first modern line graph. These infographic inventions provided a way for numbers to be seen as pictures, which made them easier to understand and to remember- thus changing the way the world would interact with data forever.

You Can Read

In this fun and funny celebration of literacy, kids of all ages will discover that the act of reading is a daring adventure that can take you anywhere! You can read at the playground, under the sea, at the opera and even in outer space! It turns out you can read everywhere! And when you do, you open yourself to a universe of adventure. Presented in light-hearted, rib-tickling verse that's perfect for reading aloud, You Can Read sings it loud and proud: Books are awesome. And so are the people who read them.