Up Periscope!: How Engineer Raye Montague Revolutionized Shipbuilding

Gr 1-5--In a nonfiction work told with clarity and enthusiasm, Swanson writes about Raye Montague (1935-2018). As a young girl, Montague was determined to become an engineer who designed ships--battleships, aircraft carriers, and submarines. She reached her goal despite the many obstacles, She was not eligible to take shop classes in high school, because she was a girl; she was not able to apply to an engineering department at college, because she was Black. Still, Montague followed her mother's advice that she could learn anything, be anything, and do anything. She went to business school where she learned computer skills and took programming classes. She worked for the U.S. Navy as a typist and for the men who designed ships. Montague's big chance came when the men were out sick, and she showed her supervisor that she could work with computers. Ultimately, she transferred to the Naval Ship Engineering Center where none of the men wanted to work with her. Montague was given the task of creating a computer program that could be used to completely design all the parts of a ship and she succeeded. The story unfolds in a dynamic text and emotion-packed illustrations. VERDICT An outstanding choice for biography and science classes, women's history studies, and Black history studies.--Myra Zarnowski

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

When Raye Montague (1935-2018) got a chance to look through a WWII submarine's periscope as a child growing up in Little Rock, Ark., she knew immediately that she wanted to build ships. Bolstered by her mother's message that she could "learn anything, do anything, and be anything," Montague makes a plan to do just that. When she found that the University of Arkansas refused to allow Black students into their engineering program, she attended business school to learn about computers. Forbidden as a Navy typist to touch the UNIVAC, Montague took programming classes at night, preparing herself until an opportunity arose. Later, superiors at the Naval Ship Engineering Center tasked her with designing a computer program that could calculate every part of a ship's design, hoping she'd fail. Swanson (How Does Solar Energy Work?) narrates in clear, brisk prose, while, in graphical spreads rendered in yellows, purples, and teals, Miller Jamison (This Is a School) shows Montague working with her mother and three-year-old when she's not assigned other employees or allowed to work alone at night--until she succeeds. It's an assured, STEM-themed story about a figure staying true to her dreams, over and over, and amid prejudice. Ages 4-8. Agent (for author and illustrator): Lori Kilkelly, LK Literary. (Nov.)

Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

An inspiring and definitely underrecognized role model.