A full-color picture book biography about Dorothy Vaughan, one of NASA’s first African American managers and one of the groundbreakers on the front line of electronic computing—includes hands-on STEM activities for introduction to coding.

Dorothy Vaughan loved things that made sense—especially numbers! In Computer Decoder: Dorothy Vaughan, Computer Scientist, elementary-aged children follow Dorothy’s journey from math teacher to human-computer and beyond, a journey made difficult because she was an African American woman working during a time of segregation. Dorothy worked incredibly hard to meet the challenges that greeted her at every turn and rose to the level of a supervisor, the first black supervisor in the history of her company! But another challenge awaited when a mechanical computer threatened to replace the teams of human computers. How will Dorothy figure out this problem?

Computer Decoder recommended for ages 3-8.

Paperback, 32 pages.