‘In her thirty-three years at NASA Katherine was a pioneer who broke the barriers of race and gender, showing generations of young people that everyone can excel in math and science, and reach for the stars’. That’s President Barack Obama on Katherine Johnson, his quote one of many contemporary sources that bring her extraordinary achievements to life in this concise but information-packed biography. The book covers Johnson’s life from childhood and early signs of her fierce intelligence through to the years at NASA where her calculations helped put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. It’s inspiring stuff, and the book is designed to appeal to a wide readership, with frequent illustrations, diagrams and information boxes. This is one of a number of titles in a well-thought-out new series.
The Extraordinary Life of Katherine Johnson Synopsis
In 1969 history was made when the first humans stepped on the moon. Back on earth, one woman was running the numbers that ensured they got there and back in one piece. As a child, Katherine Johnson loved maths. She went on to be one of the most important people in the history of space travel. Discover her incredible life story in this beautifully illustrated book complete with narrative biography, timelines and facts.
Publishing to mark the 50th anniversary of the moon landing in July 2019, The Extraordinary Life of Katherine Johnson is part of a super new non-fiction series, aimed at 7+ readers.
There is a Teacher Resource Pack to download here, which serves as an introduction to the Extraordinary Lives series – Puffin’s new non-fiction collection, which is perfect for KS2 and lower KS3 classrooms. You’ll get material for four or more Literacy, Citizenship and PSHE lessons, adaptable for pupils in KS2 and KS3. Once pupils understand the different features of biography writing they’ll be able to create the biography of an extraordinary person of their choice using the template in the pack.
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