Up Periscope! How Engineer Raye Montague Revolutionized Shipbuilding

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.)