Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Sheerly

★★★★★

If you liked the movie, this book is definitely worth checking out. The movie was just the tip of the iceberg that is the full true story, which is rich in culture and history.

I was hooked from the first page of the prologue, when the author revealed her own personal connection to the NASA Langley Research Center. Though the movie focused on the space race, the story of black women at NASA actually started during WWII.

As it turns out, Katherine Goble Johnson joined her group during WWII, well before the space race, and in fact, West Computing was disbanded as part of the creation of NASA. Having loved the movie, I must admit to being somewhat disappointed that many of the most memorable parts of the movie were over-dramatizations and simplifications. Still, it was easy to set aside the movie as entertainment in order to focus on the book's steady reveal of fascinating information. From beginning to end, I was constantly calling out to my husband, "Listen to this!" I learned so much about the history of NASA, day-to-day life during WWII, and even a bit about aeronautics. Most importantly, the book described scientific progress alongside social progress for blacks and women, offering context and keen insight into race relations, segregation, and how WWII helped shape the advancement of racial justice and gender equality.

This book introduces to the reader lots of interesting pieces of history all interconnected at Langley, and many notable individuals who helped shape that history, from black computers and white computers to black professors and white engineer allies. Perhaps a bit like the Langley campus, the story is sprawling, but the author deftly ties it all together in a seamless story of talent, perseverance, and inspiration.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey (The Mysterious Benedict Society #2) by Trenton Lee Stewart

★★★½

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers!! ***

Another engaging installment in which the children use their unique skills both to solve Mr. Benedict's riddles and to escape the clutches of the evil Mr. Curtain. There's a bit of a lesson about how some people are capable of harming others, and some people aren't.

The book had somewhat of a slow start, but picked up once the kids got on the ship. Once again, we see how Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance have to work together to survive their journey and reach their goal. We also see a fair amount of character development in Constance and Sticky.

I was a little bothered by the children's encounter with the "boathouse prisoner". The whole incident seemed unnecessarily contentious, especially considering that Risker clearly had suffered at the hands of the Ten Man, and the children were there to help him escape, after all.

What most prevented me from giving this book 4 stars, though, was Reynie's misguided mistrust of Captain Noland. At one point mid-journey, he actually deceives his friends and cuts off all contact with Captain Noland - their one source of assistance!! - and in the end, Captain Noland was trustworthy after all. Yet, the book never addressed Reynie's miscalculation, nor the consequences it had on their journey. With Reynie always being the one the others looked to as the group leader with the best ideas, and him seeing himself in that role as well, it seems like his realization of this significant misjudgment could have been an important piece of character development.

Also, since I've already given the spoiler warning - I also didn't like the way the group took advantage of S.Q. Of course, they had to run for their lives. But I wish there could have been some way for them to avoid betraying S.Q., who had always been soft on all them. I haven't read the third book yet, but I would be sad to see S.Q. turn to the dark side out of anger and spite towards Mr. Benedict.

The Mysterious Benedict Society (The Mysterious Benedict Society #1) by Trenton Lee Stewart

★★★★★

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers! ***

A fun read!

Even though the book confirms that events are taking place in the United States, there is a storybook feel, or at least a sense that the story is taking place some time ago, back when orphanages still existed, and television was the most modern and prevalent kind of technology.

It turns out there is a sci-fi bent, with an evil mastermind trying to take over the world with a crazy mind control invention that uses children.

The idea is that Mr. Benedict - the good guy - uses an elaborate method of testing to bring four uniquely clever and intelligent kids into his inner circle to help him take down the evil guy. These four children each have their own strengths and weaknesses, but they learn to work together as a team. There are all sorts of puzzles and challenges that the reader might enjoy tackling alongside the children.

The method of mind control, along with the kids' secret agent exploits, actually led to some pretty sophisticated themes like loyalty and betrayal, absolute and relative morality, reality versus perception, what it means to have fears, and how to best deal with those fears.

This probably isn't important, but there was one event that I didn't understand. At one point, the Recruiters actually break into Mr. Benedict's house and try to kidnap Constance. At first I thought they were targeting Mr. Benedict, knowing that he was an adversary, and they wanted to take one of his agents. Later on it became clear that the bad guys didn't know Mr. Benedict existed. So that means the Recruiters were just there randomly to kidnap Constance. But then, after seeing how hard everyone worked to save Constance, wasn't it weird that Constance just voluntarily showed up at the Institute? Why didn't the Recruiters recognize her and get suspicious?

Anyway, the characters and overall story, including some twists at the end, was entertaining enough that I'm giving the book 5 stars despite that bit of confusion.

P.S. There's a fun note at the back of the book directing the reader to look for a code to decipher!