A Computer Called Katherine ｜ Kids Books Read Aloud ｜ Seed of Melanin Kids!

Booktivating girls do fun! Thanks so much for joining us for another Seed of Melanin Storytime. Grab your snack and your book, if you have it. Today we're going to be reading A Computer Called Catherine, written by Suzanne Slade and illustrated by Veronica Miller Jamison. Everywhere she went, Catherine counted. She counted her steps to church. She counted the plates on the dinner table. She even tried counting the stars in the sky. Most important of all, Catherine counted the days until she could start school. Finally, at the age of five, she followed her brother hundreds of steps to the two-room schoolhouse. An excellent student, Catherine devoured thick books and added numbers at the speed of light. So the teacher decided she would skip first grade and start in second. But Catherine was such a fast learner, she later skipped fifth grade, too. And before you could say, mathematician, magician, she was a grade ahead of her older brother. Catherine loved math because it was easy to see if an answer was right or wrong. Meanwhile, most everyone in town was arguing about right and wrong. Some people said it was wrong for children with different skin colors to attend the same school. Others said it wasn't right for women to work at the same jobs as men. Their arguments seemed wrong to Catherine, as wrong as 5 plus 5 equals 12. She believed everyone should be treated the same. So she kept working hard in school and dreamed of a future when all people would have equal rights. Catherine finished eighth grade when she was only 10 years old, but her town didn't have a high school for black students. Determined to keep learning, she counted the dusty miles, 120 in all, as her family moved closer to a school she could attend. There she took an exciting math class called Geometry. She learned how points and lines made shapes, triangles, trapezoids, and perfect parallelograms. And her love for math grew exponentially. At 15, Catherine started college. She flew through every math class at West Virginia State. So a professor taught harder classes just for her. In Advanced Geometry, she plotted points on a graph. When she connected the points, they created a beautiful U-shaped curve called a parabola. It was love at first sight. After graduation, Catherine became a math teacher. Back then, people said women could only be teachers or nurses. Catherine knew that was wrong, as wrong as 10 minus 5 equals 3. She believed women could be anything, scientists, lawyers, or mathematicians. So she set out to prove it. Catherine discovered a research center in Virginia that was hiring women mathematicians. They were called computers because they made calculations To Catherine, it added up to the perfect job. All day long, she punched buttons on a calculator, just like the other women. She solved long math equations, just like the other women. She wrote answers on huge data sheets, just like the other women. But Catherine wasn't like the other women. She asked questions, lots of questions. What were her calculations used for? Why were they important? How did her answers help design airplanes and flights? The men engineers noticed the woman who asked intelligent questions and how quickly she solved difficult math problems. So they asked Catherine to join their space team. Its mission, send America's first astronaut into space. Catherine said yes. Then she discovered that women weren't allowed to attend the group's meetings. She knew this was wrong, as wrong as 5 times 5 equals 20. So she asked if she could go. Women don't ever go to those, the engineers replied. Is there a law against it? Catherine asked. No. So Catherine showed up at the next meeting ready to work. Astounded by her geometry skills, the team asked her to calculate when America's first space flight should blast off. Catherine agreed. But first, she asked questions like, Where should the rocket splash down? How high should it fly? When should it land? With that information, Catherine carefully computed the rocket's flight path, a beautiful U-shaped curve. Next, she worked backward to figure out the time it should blast off. Then she began counting the days until launch. On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard blasted off. Following Catherine's flight path, he soared into the silvery sky. Fifteen minutes later, he splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, right on schedule and right on target. Soon, Americans began dreaming of a longer flight around the entire Earth. To figure out the math for this long, complicated trip, engineers decided to use their new room-sized computer that worked much faster than people. But astronaut John Glenn trusted Catherine more than a machine. He wouldn't step one foot onto the rocket until she said the computer's calculations were correct. Happy to help, Catherine checked every number. On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth. Then people began wondering if an astronaut could travel all the way to the moon. Both the Soviet Union and the United States wanted to be first to land there and win the space race. Catherine knew this flight was incredibly long and dangerous. Every calculation would have to be perfect. One math mistake and the rocket would zoom right past the moon. As NASA's computer hummed and computed a flight path to the moon and back, Catherine went to work too, double-checking the machine's calculations. But this was the most complicated geometry problem she'd ever seen. One of the points, the spacecraft, was flying incredibly fast. Her target, the moon, was constantly circling Earth while spinning. Some people thought the problem was too difficult to solve, but Catherine knew that was wrong. As wrong as 25 divided by 5 is 4. She calculated and computed. She plotted and planned. She created a bold, brave path all the way to the moon and back. Ten. Nine. Ignition sequence starts. Heart racing, Catherine leaned close to the small television screen. Seven. Six. Five. She held her breath as powerful flames exploded onto the launch pad. Four. Three. Two. One. Liftoff! The rumbling rocket slowly rose. Above the ground. Above the smoke. Above the clouds. And then disappeared into the ink black space. Four days later, as Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon, Catherine smiled and began to count. Girls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing. Catherine Johnson. If you want to know, ask a question. There's no such thing as a dumb question. Catherine Johnson. The proposed flight path for Alan Shepard's first American space flight. Catherine Johnson at her desk. NASA report co-authored by Catherine. Apollo's proposed flight path to land on the moon and return to Earth. Thanks so much for joining us for another Seed of Melanin Storytime as we read A Computer Called Catherine, written by Suzanne Slade and illustrated by Veronica Miller-Jameson. We hope you've learned a little bit about how Catherine Johnson helped put America on the moon and feel a little bit more confident that you, too, can do anything you put your mind to. Have a good day, friends. Bye-bye. Subscribe to our channel for more videos!