If you are interested in Sally Ride's career and some of her writings, you can find plenty of published material. Many are geared for younger readers to engender their interest in space. For instance, Ms. Ride's Space Shuttle adventures and more are recounted in her 1989 book for younger readers
To Space & Back. Ms. Ride also co-authored many other books with Tam O'Shaughnessy related to various aspects of the space program designed for younger readers, including:
--
Voyager: An Adventure to the Edge of the Solar System. Published in 2005, Kirkus Reviews opined:
Astronaut/scientist Ride teams up with a science teacher for a book
about the Voyager spacecrafts' epic journeys. During them, they passed
close enough to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune to take detailed
pictures and measurements; the result is a wealth of new information
(especially about the planets' rings and moons), gorgeous color photos,
and some scientific puzzles.
-- Exploring Our Solar System. Published in 2003.
Booklist opined:
In this copiously illustrated volume, astronaut Ride and educator
O'Shaughnessy offer a thrilling introduction to our solar system.
Although our neighboring planets were "formed at about the same time and
from about the same stuff," the authors write, "they are nine very
different worlds." Each chapter takes readers on a planetary tour. The
section on Earth includes a time line and theories of the evolution of
life on our planet. The authors explain facts in simple, straightforward
language that doesn't condescend to a young audience, and the visuals
include exciting images from space, charts that contrast the planets'
properties, and artists' renderings of unattainable space views and
imagined explorations. Throughout, the authors successfully put the
planets in wider context, as in the section "Venus, Earth and Mars--Why
They Are So Different." Useful appended charts, including a full listing
of all space flights, add to the appeal.
-- The Mystery of Mars. Published in 1999.
School Library Journal opined:
Actually a physical portrait of two planets, this survey draws
illuminating parallels and contrasts between the history, structure, and
current state of both Earth and Mars. Imparting a vivid sense of how
inhospitable the red planet is, at least to life as we know it, Ride and
O'Shaughnessy supply a lively mix of sweeping claims ("Mars has the
largest volcanoes and the longest, deepest canyons in the entire solar
system"), specific observations, and logical extrapolations. The
authors' comments are enhanced by a generous array of computer graphics,
precisely detailed paintings, and recent photographs from both space
and ground level. The material includes information gathered from the
1997 Pathfinder mission and a mention of the Mars Climate Orbiter,
though not of the latter's failure.
