Becker, Helaine. Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13. Illustrated by Dow Phumiruk, New York: Christy Ottaviano Books, 2018.
Katherine Johnson became better known as a result of the recent movie Hidden Figures. Yet she is still somewhat of an unknown to some elementary-age children. Counting on Katherine by Helaine Becker is a picture book biography which can be used to introduce Katherine Johnson to elementary children. The book starts with Katherine’s childhood and her love for counting which lead to her desire to learn all she could about math. She had supportive parents who were willing to move to a new location when it was time for Katherine to enter high school – their local high school was for whites only. Katherine Johnson eventually was able to join the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics which later became NASA. She was hired as a computer (before their were electronic computers). She did calculations both for the Mercury program and for the Apollo program. She was so good that John Glenn insisted she check the calculations of the electronic computer before he would trust those numbers.
The illustrations of Counting on Katherine were created digitally by Dow Phumiruk. I love that some of the illustrations contain mathematical equations. Her illustrations do a great job of sharing who Katherine is.
The book closes with more information on Katherine as well as additional sources.
I borrowed a copy of this book from my local library. I would not hesitate to add it to my K-12 library, and probably will when funds become available.
Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13
Library Lady's Kid Lit 