Classified

Long before she became the first woman engineer at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Mary Golda Ross was a young person who loved numbers. This picture book follows her as she grows into a designer of classified airplanes and spacecraft, and shows how her talent for mathematics and the Cherokee principles she was raised with guided each stage of her work.

The story opens in a high school math class where she was the lone girl. From there Ross becomes a teacher, earns an engineering degree, and eventually joins the Skunk Works, the secretive division of Lockheed. Along the way she also mentors Native American students and young women who hope to build careers in engineering.

Cherokee author Traci Sorell and Métis illustrator Natasha Donovan pair this biography with the values Ross carried throughout her life: a commitment to learning, cooperation, humility, and making sure everyone has a fair chance at opportunity and education.