Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer

by Traci Sorell, Natasha Donovan (Illustrator)

Overview

An American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Award Honor Picture Book

Mary Golda Ross designed classified airplanes and spacecraft as Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's first female engineer. Find out how her passion for math and the Cherokee values she was raised with shaped her life and work.

Cherokee author Traci Sorell and Métis illustrator Natasha Donovan trace Ross's journey from being the only girl in a high school math class to becoming a teacher to pursuing an engineering degree, joining the top-secret Skunk Works division of Lockheed, and being a mentor for Native Americans and young women interested in engineering. In addition, the narrative highlights Cherokee values including education, working cooperatively, remaining humble, and helping ensure equal opportunity and education for all.

"A stellar addition to the genre that will launch careers and inspire for generations, it deserves space alongside stories of other world leaders and innovators."—starred, Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541579149
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/02/2021
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	56,102
Product dimensions:	9.40(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	940L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 9 Years

About the Author

Traci Sorell is the author of Sibert, Orbis Pictus, AILA American Indian Youth Literature Award, and Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga. Her title Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer was also named an Orbis Pictus Honor Book and a AILA American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book. She is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and lives in northeastern Oklahoma, where her tribe is located.

Natasha Donovan is the illustrator of the award-winning Mothers of Xsan series (written by Brett Huson). She illustrated the graphic novel Surviving the City (written by Tasha Spillett), which won a Manitoba Book Award and received an American Indian Youth Literature Award (AIYLA) honor. She also illustrated Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer which won an Orbis Pictus Honor Book and an American Indian Youth Literature Award (AIYLA). Natasha is Métis, and spent her early life in Vancouver, British Columbia. Although she moved to the United States to marry a mathematician, she prefers to keep her own calculations to the world of color and line. She lives in Washington. www.natashadonovan.com

Editorial Reviews

"A stellar addition to the genre that will launch careers and inspire for generations, it deserves space alongside stories of other world leaders and innovators."—starred, Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

04/01/2021

Gr 2–5—Mary Golda Ross (1908–2008), a member of the Cherokee Nation, excelled in math from an early age. Although teenage girls "weren't expected to enjoy or excel in math or science," Ross began attending college at the age of 16 and became a high school teacher after graduation. Embracing Cherokee values, she encouraged her students, especially young Pueblo and Navajo girls, to take advantage of available educational opportunities. In 1942 she took a job at Lockheed Aircraft Company as a mathematical research assistant. In 1950 she became their first female engineer. The company recognized her potential and assigned her to work on top-secret projects related to government space and weapons programs. Donovan, who is Métis, uses elegant cartoon-style illustrations, which are well-matched to the narrative. The artwork helps expand the information included in the text. Using pencil, ink, and Procreate, the layered spreads feature reproductions of blueprints and fragments of notes about Ross's projects. Sorell, an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, shares her personal perspective about Ross in an author's note. A time line, bibliography, section of "Four Cherokee Values," and source notes are included. VERDICT This title spotlights the story of an innovative Cherokee aerospace engineer, whose life sets an inspiring example for all children. Pair it with the picture book version of Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures.—Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's Sch., Richmond, VA

School Library Journal

★ 2020-12-15
Highlights the life and secret work of Cherokee aerospace engineer Mary Golda Ross.

As a teen in the 1920s, Mary Golda Ross loves “puzzling out math equations” despite expectations of the times. At 16, she finds being the only girl in a college math class means working extra hard to prove herself to the boys who “refused to sit next to” her. Guided by her Cherokee belief that “gaining life skills in all areas” is important, Ross not only strives for better grades, she aims for loftier goals. Each step of the way—whether teaching high school, working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or helping solve aircraft design flaws during World War II— Ross is fueled by other Cherokee principles as well. Ultimately, her passion for math and her commitment to those deeply rooted values result in her selection to a “supersecret work team” that promises to take her career, and the world, further than ever before. Meticulously researched and subtly framed according to the Cherokee beliefs that piloted Ross, page-turning prose elevates this Indigenous hidden figure to her rightful place in history. In addition, bold, classic-comics–like illustrations and colors reminiscent of 1950s advertisements give an appropriately retro vibe. A stellar addition to the genre that will launch careers and inspire for generations, it deserves space alongside stories of other world leaders and innovators.

Liftoff. A biography that lands beyond the stars! (timeline, author’s note, four Cherokee values, source notes, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 7-11)

Kirkus Reviews