By Roda Ahmed
A little girl dreams of floating among the stars, and her parents keep the dream alive even when her teacher doesn't.
Young Mae knows exactly what she wants to be: an astronaut, dancing among the stars. She reads about space, makes herself a spacesuit out of a costume, and tells everyone. Her mom and dad meet the dream with 'if you believe it and work hard, you can be anything.' When her teacher brushes the dream aside and suggests she pick something more realistic, her parents build her right back up. It's a warm, softly illustrated story inspired by Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to travel into space.
It hands a space-loving child a hero who wanted the exact thing they want, and shows a family taking a child's dream seriously. It's honest that not everyone will cheer you on, which prepares a child for a doubter of their own, but the grown-ups who matter are firmly in Mae's corner. And because it's inspired by a real astronaut, it opens the door to the true story of Mae Jemison.