THE SIX — YOUNG READERS EDITION: THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICA’S FIRST WOMEN ASTRONAUTS, by Loren Grush and Rebecca Stefoff, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Feb. 11, 2025, Hardcover, $17.99 (ages 8-12)
The Six —Young Readers Edition: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts, by Loren Grush and Rebecca Stefoff, explores America’s first women in space.
Sally Ride may have been the first US woman in space, but did you know there were five other incredible American women who helped blaze the trail for female astronauts by her side?
When NASA sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s, the agency excluded women from the corps, arguing that only military test pilots—a group women were also aggressively barred from—had the right stuff. But as the 1980s dawned so did new thinking, and six elite women scientists—Sally Ride, Judith Resnik, Anna Lee Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon—set out to prove they had exactly the right stuff to become the first US women astronauts.
In The Six Young Readers Edition, acclaimed journalist Loren Grush shows how these brilliant and courageous women fought to enter STEM fields they were discouraged from pursuing, endured claustrophobic—and often deeply sexist—media attention, underwent rigorous survival training, and prepared for years to take multi-million-dollar equipment into orbit.
Told with contributions from nearly all the living participants and now adapted for young readers, this book is an inspiring testament to their struggles, accomplishments, and sacrifices and how they built the tools that made the space program run. It’s a legacy that lives on to inspire young people today. —Synopsis provided by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
The Six was originally published for adults in 2023. Now the book has been adapted for young readers.
The Six — Young Readers Edition is the type of book that’s going to immediately catch readers’ attention. Any kid interested in STEM and/or space travel, especially girls, will want to know more about these pioneers.
This version features conversational text that is accessible and the inclusion of color photographs inside helps put face to names.
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