by Kate Hannigan (Author) Patrick Spaziante (Illustrator)
Hidden Figures meets Wonder Woman in this action-packed, comic-inspired adventure about a brilliant girl puzzler who discovers she's part of a superhero team!
Josie O'Malley does a lot to help out Mam after her father goes off to fight the Nazis, but she wishes she could do more--like all those caped heroes who now seem to have disappeared. If Josie can't fly and control weather like her idol, Zenobia, maybe she can put her math smarts to use cracking puzzles for the government. After an official tosses out her puzzler test because she's a girl, it soon becomes clear that an even more top-secret agency has its eye on Josie, along with two other applicants: Akiko and Mae. The trio bonds over their shared love of female superhero celebrities, from Hauntima to Zenobia to Hopscotch But during one extraordinary afternoon, they find themselves transformed into the newest (and youngest!) superheroes in town.
As the girls' abilities slowly begin to emerge, they learn that their skills will be crucial in thwarting a shapeshifting henchman of Hitler, and, just maybe, in solving an even larger mystery about the superheroes who've recently gone missing. Inspired by remarkable real-life women from World War II--the human computers and earliest programmers called "the ENIAC Six"--this pulse-pounding adventure features bold action and brave thinking, with forty-eight pages of comic book style graphic panels throughout the book.
Readers will want to don their own capes for an adventure, and realize they have the power to be a superhero, too!
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Gr 4-7--Hannigan soars with a rich new adventure series inspired by real women programmers from World War II. Philadelphia has not seen caped crusaders in years, yet seventh-grader Josie O'Malley loves reading comic books about female superheroes and solving math and word games. When she notices an ad in the paper seeking puzzle solvers to help crack ciphers, Josie knows that this is her dream job. She'll do anything to help her family while her father is away fighting Germany's Nazis. Josie is alarmed when she, Akiko, and Mae are all cut from the puzzler tryouts because they are girls. The girls join forces as caped crusaders themseves, with advanced powers and teamwork to foil a cloak-and-dagger evildoer and crack the clandestine code just in time to find superheroes who went missing in action. Mae, who is African American, and Akiko, who is Japanese- American, are nuanced characters whose experiences with racism accurately reflect the time period. Hannigan takes on history, prejudice, friendship, and bravery with aplomb. VERDICT Fans of fast-paced action adventures, computer science, and confident main characters will enjoy this series debut that is sure to fly off the shelves.--Annisha Jeffries, Cleveland Public Library
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