Mae Among the Stars

I loved this book so much. I almost didn’t buy it based on the top reviewers review but I’m glad I didn’t. Had she seen the very last page, she would have know the main character was inspired by the first black female astronaut who worked for NASA in the late 70s. The message isn’t that jobs like firefighters, teachers, stay at home moms, and nurses aren’t jobs of value. If someone says they want to be one of the above, it’s going to be taken way more seriously. Nursing is a physically and emotionally difficult job, but there are many nurses out there and many are female. There aren’t many female astronauts and there definitely wasn’t in the 70s-80s. Unfortunately this reviewer took the children’s book too personally which is a shame. As someone who used to be a teacher and is now a stay at home mom, I took no offense to it. The message is that you can do or be whoever you want to be, nothing is out of reach (& in a literal sense too, Mae traveled to space). Mae wanted to see earth from afar even if the odds weren’t in her favor or even if no one would take her seriously. BUT, “If you can dream it, if you believe it and work hard for it, anything is possible.” Thank you to the author for writing a lovely story about a historic woman who achieved the impossible. The story is inspiring and knowing it’s based on a true story, my daughter now has a role model she didn’t know existed before. I can’t think of a better book for my daughter, especially considering that she wants to be an astronaut herself. Thank you to the illustrator too, the artwork is lovely.

This is a charming story for pre-school and elementary school age children about Mae Jemison and her goal to become as astronaut. A wonderful introduction to the much more detailed story, Mae Jemison by Xneeze, Her Cat by Dan Greenburg. The latter book is more suitable for middle school-age children. But both are wonderful stories about a little girl and the obstacles she had to overcome to achieve her life-long goals to become the first black woman astronaut.

Such a great children’s book about perseverance, determination and goal setting!

Great story and beautiful illustration. It’s a true story so I’m not really sure why some nurses on here are acting like the book is putting the profession down. It’s a true account of what was said to Astronaut Mae Jemison. If I had to guess, her teacher was just implying she take up a “traditionally” female career. This story is great at encouraging children to be whatever they want regardless of what anyone thinks or says. Be it a boy wanting to be a nurse or a girl an astronaut.

We have a lot of books and we read stories every night before bed. My son is quite picky, and this is a book he comes back to over and over. That's what I appreciate most about it. I've tried to bring many books to him that will widen his viewpoint of who can do what, who his role models could be -- but, largely because this is not yet a big market (a lot of innovation still needs to be done), often those books aren't calibrated to the right age, the story isn't simplified elegantly enough. This book is the rare opposite case. The story is simple enough for a 4 year old to follow, but deeply emotional, and the emotion tells the most important part of the story: that everyone deserves to have their dreams encouraged. It encourages every kid to persist in achieving their dreams, while also lifting up a wonderful role model to their awareness -- and it made him feel the pain of having someone demean or dismiss those dreams. Amazing book.

My two kids both LOVE this book and little Mae "the dreamer". We have read it almost every night since we got it a month ago. The rhythm of the story is fun to read and the beautiful drawings of space are captivating. While some books aimed at "increasing diversity" can be heavy handed or conversely gloss over difficult issues, this is a fantastic picture book that will ALSO increase representation on your bookshelf. It deals with discrimination in an honest, age appropriate manner. I do not think that it belittles nursing - when we get to that page we talk about how nursing is a great job for someone who wants to be a nurse but it was not Mae's dream.

I used to read this book to my students when I taught. Love it

My son loves this book and we all love to read it with him. This is a sweet story of working hard to achieve your dreams and teaches about Mae Jemison. *I saw someone say this book disparages nurses. I didn't get that at all and wouldn't let that sway you away from this book! In class Mae says she wants to be an Astronaut and go to space. The teacher basically responds with "that's silly - being a nurse could be a good fit for you". Not as in nursing is a lowly job, but more of a sign that the teacher couldn't think outside of gender roles and what was acceptable for a woman in those times - especially a Black woman! I didn't get that the teacher was rating which job was better. Though if she was I think we an all agree that being 1 of 4million nurses isn't as wild of an aspiration as going to space (something only 568 people ever have done as of 2020). There was nothing degrading about nursing or about how nurses aren't brave and heroes!

The story line is inspiring; and the courage of the little girl and her mother will give confidence to children to live their dreams. The illustrations add power to the stories further that shows the father working in the kitchen and serving the girl and her mother. That is how patriarchy and racism can be challenged.

ottima

A beautiful story for children teaching them to always believe in themselves and follow their dreams!

Lovely story. The class loved it

Authentische Geschichte, da sie eine wahre Biographie widergibt. Gut geeignet um Kindern, die auch Diskriminierung erfahren haben, Mut zu machen, dieser Diskriminierung zu trotzen, keinen Glauben zu schenken, auch Autoritäten nicht! Jedoch auch schön gefunden hätte ich, wenn diese Biographie ohne diese Dramaturgie erzählt würde, dass man der Protagonistin Nichts zutraute, da sie eine Schwarze ist, und sie sich darum extra anstrengen musste um es doch allen beweisen zu können, dass in ihr Großes steckt und allen, die sich dies nicht vorstellen konnten deren Irrtum zu zeigen. Ich möchte meiner Tochter einfach erzählen können, diese Frau ist Astronautin geworden, das wollte sie schon als Kind und hat ihren Traum verwirklicht (und dabei kann sie sich anhand der Illustrationen ein Bild von dem Mädchen und der Frau machen und sich mit ihr ggf identifizieren).