Jennifer Swanson is the author of the new children's picture book Up Periscope: How Engineer Raye Montague Revolutionized Shipbuilding. Swanson's many other books include Outdoor School. She lives in Florida.
Q: You’ve said that you learned about engineer Raye Montague (1935-2018) from an article about “the Hidden Figure of the Navy.” Can you say more about that?
A: As a Naval Academy graduate, I was very intrigued. Once I started reading more about Raye and investigating, I just knew her story had to be told.
The number of obstacles that Raye overcame to be the first person to create a computer program to design ships was incredible. And using a computer to design ships absolutely revolutionized how the Navy built ships!
Q: What do you think Veronica Miller Jamison’s illustrations add to the book?
A: Picture books are nothing without pictures, and acclaimed illustrator Veronica Miller Jamison’s illustrations are simply stunning! She did a fabulous job of bringing Raye’s story to life in a glorious and visually heartfelt way. In fact, when I first saw these images, they brought tears to my eyes.
Q: The Publishers Weekly review of the book called it an “assured, STEM-themed story about a figure staying true to her dreams, over and over, and amid prejudice.” What do you think of that description?
A: It is perfect! Raye overcame so many obstacles, but she never once let it stop her. She just kept moving forward. In the end, she achieved her dream.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I'm putting the final edits on two books that come out later this year. The first is Atlas Obscura's Explorer's Guide to Inventing the World, which I co-authored with Dylan Thuras, one of the founders of Atlas Obscura. This book is going to be EPIC!
Here is its blurb: Following up on the New York Times bestselling Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide for the World's Most Adventurous Kid (Workman Publishing), with more than 200,000 copies in print, here is a globe-spanning history of invention like no other. This illustrated and STEM-oriented exploration of the planet’s 94 most interesting inventions and scientific discoveries sends middle-grade readers on an unforgettable trip around the planet and across time.
And my other book is Three Weeks in the Rainforest: A Rapid Inventory of the Amazon (Charlesbridge Publishing). This book follows a group of amazing scientists at The Field Museum in Chicago as they work in cooperation with local, state, and national scientists to gather information about the Amazon Rainforest and the people that live there to help protect it.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I am so proud to have been able to share Raye’s incredible story with young readers. I hope they are inspired by her courage, determination, and perseverance. It is my hope that young readers will learn from this book that they can do anything and be anything.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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