ASHA AND BAZ MEET MARY SHERMAN MORGAN

Time-traveling lab partners Asha and Baz get a firsthand lesson from famed rocket scientist Mary Sherman Morgan.

Clever lab partners and best friends Asha and Baz are determined to win the science class rocket contest in order to meet beloved astronaut Chris Hadfield. While brainstorming how to propel their rocket, Asha accidentally transports them back to North American Aviation in 1957. Inside, they encounter lone female scientist Mary Sherman Morgan, who is working on another propulsion problem—launching a satellite into space to compete with the Soviet Union in the space race. Asha and Baz witness Mary’s invention of the liquid rocket fuel known as Hydyne. While they’re discouraged by the sexism Mary encounters, she perseveres and pushes them to keep working on their own project. Despite an abrupt time shift and a lack of background information about the main characters, the story is engaging and the vocabulary is appropriate for both the age group and the subject matter. Illustrations are emotive, lively, and well placed, and robust backmatter adds much value to this promising new series. Though the protagonists’ race and ethnicity aren’t specified in the text, illustrations depict Asha as brown-skinned and Mary and Baz as light-skinned.

Spunky protagonists get a realistic look at a historical female scientist in an accessible series opener.