Up Periscope! - by Jennifer Swanson (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A picture book biography of engineer Raye Montague, who revolutionized the way the navy designed ships by developing her own comprehensive computer program"--

Book Synopsis

Discover the hidden figure who created the first comprehensive computer program to design ships for the US Navy.

Girls like Raye Montague weren't supposed to like math or science, or go to engineering school. But tenacious Raye had a plan, one that eventually took her all the way to the US Navy. There, she was assigned an impossible task: to come up with a single computer program that could design every part of a ship. It had never been done before--but Raye's groundbreaking program revolutionized the way ships and submarines were built, and set her on a path to become a pioneering figure in naval engineering and the navy's first female program manager of ships.

Award-winning author Jennifer Swanson and acclaimed illustrator Veronica Miller Jamison celebrate a self-made engineer who worked around anyone and anything that stood in her way in this illuminating biography about never giving up on your dreams.

Review Quotes

A CBC-NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book
A School Library Journal Nonfiction Elementary Best Book of the Year
A Rise: A Feminist Book Project Booklist Pick
A Great Lakes Great Books Award Nominee
An Arkansas Choice Book Award Diamond Primary Award Nominee

"Jamison's engaging illustrations enhance Swanson's clear-eyed text about this STEM trailblazer."--The Horn Book

"An intriguing biography of a lesser-known engineer."--Booklist

* "The story unfolds in a dynamic text and emotion-packed illustrations.... An outstanding choice for biography and science classes, women's history studies, and Black history studies."--School Library Journal, starred review

"An assured, STEM-themed story about a figure staying true to her dreams, over and over, and amid prejudice."
--Publishers Weekly

"As she proceeds from pigtails to gray-haired eminence in Jamison's illustrations, Montague's lively, intelligent gaze shines out....An inspiring and definitely underrecognized role model."--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Jennifer Swanson is an award-winning children's author of more than forty-five nonfiction and fiction books, including National Geographic Kids Brain Games and Outdoor School: Rocks, Fossils, and Shells (a Kirkus Reviews Best Book), as well as the co-author of The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide for Inventing the World. She is also the creator and co-host of the award-winning podcast Solve It for Kids. When not writing, Jennifer loves to walk along the ocean watching for dolphins and sea turtles near her home in Florida. Visit her online at jenniferswansonbooks.com and @jenswanbooks.

Veronica Miller Jamison is the illustrator of A Computer Called Katherine (written by Suzanne Slade)--which received state nominations from Arkansas and Pennsylvania, and was named a Best STEM Book and an Outstanding Science Trade Book by the NSTA and CBC--and This Is a School (written by John Schu). Veronica spent nearly a decade in broadcast news before embarking on a career in illustration and fashion and currently works as a print designer for Lilly Pulitzer. Veronica grew up immersed in the stories of her family's history in the south and Caribbean. She invites you to visit her online at veronicajamisonart.com.