Our Take

What makes Starchild stand out among science memoirs is how unflinchingly Maggie Aderin-Pocock writes about the obstacles that had nothing to do with science at all — the instability of thirteen schools in fourteen years, the racism and low expectations she encountered at every turn, and a careers advisor who saw a Black girl fascinated by space and steered her toward nursing instead. Aderin-Pocock doesn't use these details for sympathy; she uses them to show exactly how much determination it took to end up working on instruments as significant as the James Webb Space Telescope. Readers who know her from The Sky at Night will recognize her voice immediately: warm, plainspoken, and genuinely excited to bring other people into her world rather than gatekeep it. That same instinct is what led her to start her own public speaking company, and it's woven through this book as much as the science is. This is a strong pick for readers who love memoirs about persistence against long odds, and for anyone who wants a science memoir that's as much about people as it is about the stars.