Dancing Among the Stars

Inspired by the life of Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to travel in space, Mae Among the Stars is a fictionalized story of her childhood. Focusing on the highlights as well as her mother and fathers support, along with her own determination to dance in the stars, Roda Ahmend and Stasia Burrington created a new gem to read. The afterwards gives more of a broader view of who Jemison was and the time frame of when these things were happening.

Beautifully illustrated, they are more realistically whimsical with hints of a poetic nature. The rich colors are deep purples and blues as well as bright ones as well. Each tells their own story and accents the text perfectly. The text, however, is sparse. It tells what is needed, but little more. The thing that stands out is that this could be any girl who has a dream. It is not specific to Jemison solely.

In today’s world of looking for books to inspire women, this is one that can be used to introduce the younger audience to someone who did not stop when people told her to, did not know the meaning of “can’t” when others told her she could not, to someone who did not give up on her dreams and to someone who made some firsts happen such as firsts for African American women in certain fields of science and space. But probably the most impressive she is the first astronaut to be on a Star Trek show!