Starred Review Wow! Talk about forgotten history! Holt (Cured: The People Who Defeated HIV, 2014), tackles the lost story of women at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, giving readers not only an inside look at how it came to have the highest percentage of female employees in NASA but also how JPL itself was formed and how its revolutionary projects (Voyager, Mars rovers) were developed. Those interested in space history will find much to enjoy here, but it is the stories of the women involved, highlighted in sections by decade, that commands attention. Their role as computers dividuals capable of making blazingly fast calculations of the highest math s critical to JPL's success, and their department became a bastion for women in the workplace. The computers worked long hours, married, had children, left to raise families, and often returned out of longing for the achievements possible at JPL. Holt interviewed many of them and mined existing histories for insights, and her stellar research is evident on every page. This is an excellent contribution to American history, valuable not only for what it reveals about the space program and gender equality but even more as great reading. Book clubs will be lining up.

We take so much for granted now, but in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, women who wanted a career other than homemaker were mostly limited to becoming teachers, nurses, or secretaries, and there was no such thing as maternity leave. However, a few smart young women who loved math were hired to be human computers for the Jet Propulsion Lab in California. What we think of as computers now hadn't been invented yet. These women spent their days writing equations and computing numbers with pencils, paper, and slide rules to give the male engineers the information they needed to build rockets, satellites, and space shuttles. This selection will surprise and thrill teens not only because it honors the crucial work of these female scientists but also because it shows their individual humanitytheir favorite fashions, their personal relationshipswithin the broader context of the international space race, changes in U.S. society brought about by feminism and integration, and transformations in American daily life brought about by evolving technology. Teen book clubs will enjoy discussing the pros and cons of all-female work groups, the costs and benefits of space exploration, and more. Readers will want to search online for information about the Juno probe, mentioned in the "1970s-Today" section as orbiting Jupiter in July 2016. The extensive notes section details the many first-person interviews conducted by the author, plus the archival materials she used. VERDICT An engaging, inspiring offering that will appeal to fans of history, science, and feminism. Hope Baugh, Carmel Clay Public Library, Carmel, IN