Yvonne Clark and Her Engineering Spark

By: Allen R. Wells, DeAndra Hodge

Narrated by: Melinda Sewak

Yvonne Clark and Her Engineering Spark features music and special effects. Listen along and enjoy the fun!


Based on a true story, this inspiring audiobook is about a curious, tinkering girl who grew up to become one of the first Black female engineers for NASA; for fans of Ada Twist, Scientist and Counting on Katherine.

Yvonne Clark had an engineering spark—an instinct for figuring out how things worked.

Broken lamp? She screwed, rewired, and wrenched until…light!
Wrecked radio? She twisted, snipped, and hammered until…music!
Clogged furnace? She picked, plucked, and cleared until…heat!

When she grew up, Yvonne’s problem-solving power took her to NASA, where fellow engineers had a serious problem with the Saturn V rocket’s F-1 engine: It had hot spots—high temperatures in the engine.

Can Yvonne Clark and her engineering spark solve the problem?

In an electric tribute, Allen R. Wells artfully tells the life story of his favorite engineering professor who also happened to be one of our nation’s most influential African American engineers.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Critic reviews

"A buoyant profile of Yvonne Clark (1929-2019), a lifelong tinkerer with a knack for making everything work better, from the family toaster to giant rockets... Inspirational fare for aspiring engineers and scientists." —Kirkus

This book will spark the imagination and curiosity of youngsters!

The quality of the lively narration Is the outstanding feature of this audiobook It is an inspiring story, well told by the upbeat presentation. This audio presentation of the book is as engaging as the hard copy book itself. It is a great listen for children who are too young to have learned how to read yet.