“Jada, can you turn with Lena?” Simone asked. “I want to practice my moves.”

  Simone did donkey kicks. Lena went next and did a cartwheel into the ropes. When I was up, I watched the rhythm for the right time to run inside. As the ropes whirred around me, I got in the zone where you feel like you can keep going forever. But as my feet tapped out a beat, I felt guilt nagging me again. Mae Jemison would never give up. Maybe I shouldn’t either.

  It wasn’t that long ago that I didn’t know how to jump double Dutch. Lena and Simone taught me a little at a time. I took a breath and ran out of the ropes perfectly. Baby steps—that’s what Mom always says. I’d give the project one more try. I owed Dr. Jemison that. If it didn’t work out, I’d tell Miss Taylor on Monday that I needed to switch.

  Chapter Four:

  JOURNEY INTO SPACE

  Mom had a surprise for me when I got home.

  “Since you’re going to be the first Black woman astronaut for the wax museum, I thought we could go to Morehead Planetarium.”

  Usually I’d be all in. That’s one of my favorite places, but I wasn’t sure if I’d stick with being Mae Jemison. I shifted my feet.

  “I was actually thinking that I might change to someone else,” I said slowly and cautiously. “I’m going to decide by Monday.”

  Mom could read me like one of her books at story time.

  “Really?” she said. “I’m surprised. I thought you were excited about being Mae Jemison. Well, we can still go. Always cool to see the stars.”

  Whew. Mom had let me off easy. Jax and Dad were running errands, so it was just us. I hopped in Ruby—what Mom called her maroon Jeep—and we headed to Chapel Hill. We bopped to Beyoncé as we got on I-40. Then, Mom turned down the music. Uh-oh. I knew what that meant.

  “So tell me what’s up,” she said. “Why don’t you want to be Mae Jemison?”

  I thought about saying I found someone I wanted to be more, but that wasn’t true. I sighed and fessed up.

  “I’m trying, but I just can’t get it together,” I said. “She was fearless, great in everything. I feel like a flop. I can’t figure out what I want to say in my speech. Science isn’t fun anymore.”

  “Take it easy on yourself,” she said. “Remember you’re pretty amazing, too. I bet Mae Jemison didn’t have it together every day. None of us do.”

  I listened to the music, but my head was filled with Mom’s words. I’d been focusing on all of the great things Mae Jemison did. I wondered if she had struggles just like I did.

  When we got to Morehead, we sat in the planetarium. All around us the Carolina sky came to life. It swept me away. I wasn’t sitting in my seat anymore—I was on a rocket zooming through stars. A chill ran up my arms like when I saw Saturn through the telescope. With the room a velvet night, constellations lit up the dome. I was in another world.

  On the way out, we stopped by the gift shop. I saw astronaut ice cream, rocket kits, and star maps and got that chill again. I knew I couldn’t change my hero. I had to figure this out.

  At home, Dad called me to the living room. He frowned like something was wrong.

  “I’m sorry, Jada,” he said. “I forgot about the Mae Jemison tickets.”

  Oh no. I stared at the floor. Thinking about seeing her made my heart race with nerves, but deep inside I’d hoped it would happen.

  “That’s okay,” I said, looking up again.

  “Is it?” he asked, holding out his phone. “ Because I remembered and just got them online. But if you don’t want them, I can give them away.”

  “Daaaad!”

  He got me. I hugged him tight and walked away with a grin that shone like the sun. My wish was coming true.

  I went to my desk on a mission: Time to do more research. Instead of just focusing on Mae Jemison’s achievements, I looked for the hurdles. What kind of challenges did she face? What did she overcome? Mom was right. Everybody has something they’re dealing with.

  As I scanned through articles, one line made my eyes pop and my mouth hang open. Had I really read what I thought I had? I looked at it again. There it was in bold, black letters: “As a kid, Mae Jemison was scared of heights.” How was that possible? She wanted to be an astronaut when she was little! I’d never thought of her being afraid of anything. Maybe we had more in common than I’d thought.

  Chapter Five:

  MAKING IT RIGHT

  I was walking up the steps to the fourth grade hallway before I realized I’d been so busy focusing on my Mae Jemison project that I forgot to study. The moon quiz was today. I entered the room with a feeling of dread and sank into my seat.

  “What’s wrong, Jada?” Lena asked when she saw my long face.

  “I’m okay. Wish I had more time to get ready.”

  As Miss Taylor passed out the papers face down, I closed my eyes, trying to remember the answers on the study sheet.

  “Okay, everybody can turn their quiz over and start,” Miss Taylor said.

  When I saw what was there, I knew I was in trouble. Vocabulary words. Phases of the moon. I thought I knew the answers, but I wasn’t sure. I wrote something down and erased it. Then, I wrote down something else and wasn’t sure if that was right, either. I saw Miles finish first and turn his paper over. Then, others did the same. I sighed and tried my best.

  “How’d you do, Jada?” Miles asked, sitting next to me on the orange and blue carpet for our next lesson.

  “Not great,” I said.

  I didn’t really feel like talking. I scooted over a little and looked away. Miles didn’t say anything else. When I looked back, I saw that he was sitting next to RJ.

  Every time Miles answered a question, it was like that little splinter was back. I couldn’t see it, but it was there. Bothering me. I didn’t know why I was letting Miles’s shine get me down. It never had before. We were both in science club and on student council. We rooted for each other. Well, we used to. Now I felt like he was zooming to the finish line while I was jogging backward.

  Miss Taylor assigned us into groups. I was with Miles, Simone, and Carson. We talked about why day and night happen and then worked on our diagrams. We each had to create a picture of our own.

  “Miles, that looks great,” Carson said, gazing at his drawing of Earth.

  After a while, everyone in the group was done but me. I kept working, trying to add more details. If I made this really good, maybe it would help make up for the quiz if I hadn’t done so well on it.

  “Nice,” Miles said. “When you’re done, we can compare what we drew.”

  The splinter was back. This time, I couldn’t ignore it. Before I knew it, I was blurting something I regretted.

  “Sorry not everyone is as fast as you.”

  “Dang, Jada,” Simone said.

  I sneaked a look at Miles. His eyebrows were scrunched, and his lips were tight. Why had I said that? He was a good friend. I’d messed up, and I knew I had to make it right. I waited until we were lining up for lunch.

  “Miles, do you want to come over to my house one day and work on our museum projects together?”

  “Why would you want me over?” he asked. “I thought I was a show-off.”

  I didn’t blame him for being annoyed. I tried to talk to him at lunch, but he was always in the middle of talking to someone else. My next chance was at recess as he waited for his turn at kickball.

  He saw me walking over and turned the other way. I deserved that. My stomach twisted, but I took a breath and went up to him. I’d gotten myself into this; I had to try to fix it.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, standing next to him as we watched Gabi run the bases. “I was really mad at myself. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

  “That wasn’t cool,” he said. “But I get it. I bug out sometimes, too.”

  “Bug out? I didn’t say I was bugging.”

  Miles tilted his head and gave me a look like we both knew how I was acting.

  “Okay, maybe a little.”

  We laughed.

  “I meant it about inviting you over. Want to come?”

  “Sure,” he said.

  “Great! I’ll ask my mom to call yours.”

  * * *

  ★

  Later, while we were working on our projects, I found out that his hero, Benjamin Banneker, was also an astronomer. He even made an almanac and predicted a solar eclipse.

  “I read that he loved to watch the stars,” Miles said.

  “Really? Mae Jemison did too. That’s how she started dreaming of being an astronaut.”

  I showed Miles our telescope and told him about seeing Saturn for the first time. He liked space, too. His uncle lives in Florida, and he took him to Kennedy Space Center to see a rocket launch.

  I told him about discovering some of Mae Jemison’s fears.

  “Wow,” Miles said. “I never thought about astronauts being afraid of things when they were little. They’re just like us.”

  I leaned forward. When Miles said that, it was like a light turned on in my head. I scribbled my idea into my notebook, nodding.

  It was different from what I was going for, but felt good. Mae Jemison never did just what was expected. She blazed her own path. I was celebrating her my way—this could work.

  Chapter Six:

  SHOWTIME

  The next week, we set up for the wax museum in the cafeteria. Everybody had a table to show off their hero. Miles had on overalls and studied a pocket watch. Lena was wearing her curly ’fro loose and had a display board of poems. Simone rocked a colorful dress and held a microphone. I looked around. I was the only one dressed like a kid.

  I had on my blue NASA T-shirt and orange cargo pants. On my table, I’d placed a telescope made out of paper towel rolls and a helmet made out of a cardboard box, like the illustration in Mae Among the Stars. I had a picture I’d drawn of Lieutenant Uhura from Star Trek and what Earth looks like from space.

  As parents walked through the exhibits, I practiced in my head and tried to stop fidgeting. I could do this. I had memorized my lines and had index cards, too, just in case. When someone came to my table, I was ready.

  “My name is Mae Carol Jemison,” I said. “Sometimes I’m scared of heights. But what I’m more afraid of is not following my dreams. One day, I’m going to fly to the stars.”

  As I shared Mae Jemison’s dreams and what she grew up to achieve, my shakiness faded away. If she could face her fears, I could too. Dr. Jemison and I could do anything.

  I saw Mom and Dad coming and felt my heart race. I hadn’t let them hear my speech in advance because I wanted it to be a surprise. Mr. Agyeman walked up and joined them. I remembered him telling me to be confident, so I gave it my all.

  They clapped when I finished.

  “No question,” Mr. Agyeman said. “You brought Dr. Jemison to life. Well done.”

  Dad hugged my shoulder.

  “We’re so proud of you,” Mom said.

  After the parents left, we got to walk around and check out everyone else’s exhibits. Kids raised their hands for the chance to be interviewed by Oprah played by Simone. Lena recited one of Nikki Giovanni’s poems and one of her own. Miles talked about his hero carving the first clock with wood from his farm. Kids were loving Carson’s comics and Gabi’s medals.

  Then it was time for them to visit my table. My friends looked through my paper-towel-roll telescope and tried on the box helmet.

  “Jada, you were all quiet about your project,” Simone said. “Knew you had something good.”

  She would never believe what really went on.

  * * *

  ★

  At home that evening, Mom set up the telescope.

  “I think in celebration of Jada’s starring role as Dr. Mae Jemison, it’s time for some stargazing.”

  Jax was up first. He looked through the eyepiece and was completely quiet. Then he broke into a smile and began to jump in place.

  “I can see a crater on the moon!”

  I remembered how it felt the first time I saw something special—I was hooked. When it was my turn to gaze through the telescope, I looked into the sky and didn’t just see the moon. I pictured myself going to space one day.

  In my room, I was too excited to sleep. I smiled at my Mae Jemison poster. Then, I turned off the lights, hopped on my bed, and stared at my ceiling canopy of stars. Just one more day until I saw her. It couldn’t come fast enough!

  Chapter Seven:

  BEING ME

  It was cool being out on a school night. Duke University was huge! As we walked to Page Auditorium, I was glad Dad had said he and Jax would sit this one out so Mom and I could have some quality time. It meant a lot to share this with her. I used to just think of Dr. Jemison as a hero. But now, with everything I’d learned, she felt like a friend, too. We sat as close to the front as we could and waited for Dr. Jemison to step on stage.

  I looked at people filling the seats around us. They were different ages and races, there to see the first Black woman astronaut. They chattered with excitement as the big moment neared.

  I held my head high in my NASA T-shirt and saw a couple of kids wearing orange space suits. I wondered if they were sky watchers like me. What did they imagine when they gazed at the stars? What wonders had they seen?

  When Dr. Jemison arrived, she was a magnet drawing everyone’s eyes to her. The room went quiet like someone had turned off the volume. She talked about being a kid who looked up and asked herself if others were seeing what she saw. She wanted astronauts to travel beyond our solar system in the next hundred years. When she said we’re all connected with the universe, goose bumps covered my arms.

  “What did you think?” Mom asked. “You read all about her. How did it feel to see her up close?”

  “Like a dream.”

  My heart dropped when Dr. Jemison got ready to leave for a reception. I rushed to the front and handed someone from Duke my picture of Lieutenant Uhura to give her—I hoped she liked it. I remembered a quote of hers I’d read in a magazine article: “The thing that I have done throughout my life is to do the best job that I can and to be me.”

  I stood up tall. Dr. Jemison was confident in being herself. I was too. Anything was possible one step at a time.

  Just then, my eyes met Dr. Jemison’s. I smiled and she grinned back. My feet were no longer on the ground. It felt like I was soaring through the sparkling night. I sailed by stars, saw a comet flash like fireworks, and left my footprint somewhere no one had gone before.

  Watch out, world. I was flying high.

  JADA’S RULES FOR BEING A SKY WATCHER

  Look up and imagine.

  Let your dreams fly.

  Be patient and work hard.

  Remember that anything is possible.

  Know that you’re a star.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I’m so excited to continue Jada’s adventures. Thank you to everyone who has read and recommended the books, and added them to home, school, and library collections. This series is a tribute to all of the brilliant kids around the world who stand out and shine just by being who they are.

  Special shout-out to Astronaut StarBright. A teen with big dreams and a big heart, Taylor Richardson of Jacksonville, Florida, is a student space ambassador and STEM advocate. Taylor has won national honors for being a changemaker. Among her contributions are raising thousands of dollars to send girls to see Hidden Figures and A Wrinkle in Time and donating more than ten thousand books to kids worldwide. Taylor plans to be an astronaut who travels to Mars. One of her heroes is Dr. Mae C. Jemison, just like Jada.

  Thank you to Colleen Scott, director of the Baldwin Scholars program at Duke University. She organized Dr. Jemison’s visit to Page Auditorium and gave me invaluable insights for this story.

  As always, thank you to my editor Renee, agent Caryn, illustrators Nneka and Vanessa, and the entire Penguin Workshop team. This book wouldn’t be possible without them and the circle of support that surrounds me—my family, friends, sorors, and each of you.

  And now, here’s a sneak peek at the next

  Whoa. What’s the rush, Jada?” Daddy asked.

  I looked down and couldn’t believe I’d already gobbled my two supersize banana pancakes.

  “They were delicious,” I said as I hurried to the sink. I blasted water on my flowered plate and stuck it in the dishwasher. My plate and silverware clattered as I slammed the door shut.

  “Careful, Jada,” Mom said. “I know you’re excited, but you have time. Pop Pop won’t arrive for another twenty minutes.”

  “Sorry,” I said, and zipped upstairs to grab the purple backpack I stocked last night.

  Water, snacks, journal, and my four-in-one pen for notes. I was all set. Field trip day with Pop Pop! I didn’t want to miss a minute.

  I raced down the stairs, stuck my paper bag lunch in my backpack, and stood by the door. I couldn’t believe Pop Pop was going to be one of our chaperones on the nature trail. I’d finally get to show him off to my friends—and show him what I knew about plants and bugs.

  “You get to have all the fun,” my little brother, Jackson, said, scrunching his eyebrows as he stood beside me. “Why do you get to take Pop Pop on a field trip and I don’t?”

 

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