Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine

Title: Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine
Author: Laurie Wallmark
Illustrator: April Chu
Publisher: Creston Books
Copyright: October 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1939547200
Age Range: K-3 (5-8 years-old)
Reading Level: AR 4.6
Cost: $16.68
Pages: 40






Awards/Recognition: 
Booklist Top Ten Books in Science and Health

Booklist Editor's Choice: Books for Youth 2015
National Science Teachers Association Outstanding Science Trade Book
California Reading Association Eureka Gold Medal Winner
Cook Prize Honor
2016 Amelia Bloomer List
Assoc. of Childrens Librarians of Northern California Outstanding Book
Junior Library Guild Selection
Outstanding Merit, Bank Street Best Children's Books 2016
Patterson Prize Winner 

Society of Illustrators, Original Art Show 2016

ILA-CBC Children's Choices Reading List

SUMMARY: Ada Byron Lovelace, the daughter of famous poet Lord Byron and her mathematician mother (Princess of Parallelograms), is known as the first person to write a computer program.  This biography explores Ada's childhood, her struggles overcoming blindness and paralysis from a childhood disease, and her rise to becoming the first person to write a computer program.  At a time, 1800's, when women were "not encouraged" to do math and science Ada's mother hired female tutors specifically to teach such skills to Ada.  Ada was always thinking of inventions and loved numbers.  This biography reads like narrative nonfiction and introduces readers to STEM concepts from the 1800's.  

CRITIQUE: The title amazingly received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal. The illustrations are highly detailed and the writing doesn't just throw facts at you.  After this title was published two more biographies about Ada Lovelace were published.  This title is pro-women in science, and encourages little girls to start inventing early.  What I love is the knowledge that computing devices were in the works long before one even imagined.  Ada's mother was a strong independent knowledgeable woman and Ada followed in her footsteps.  The drama with Ada's father was previously unknown to myself, and made me want to research more. Kirkus sums up the story the best,  "a splendidly inspiring introduction to an unjustly overlooked woman."--Kirkus

FEATURES INCLUDED: The author includes notes at the end of the book, a section on "The World's First Computer Program," a fun section on Ada's nicknames, a timeline, and bibliography.  

EXAMPLES:

The illustrator uses full page spreads to draw the reader into the space.  Here you get the background of Ada's famous father and her mathematician mother. Just look at those paintings in the background! 

In this illustration you are introduced to an early computing machine, and Ada's ideas for using the machine.  The pages are not overwhelmed with words, and the illustrations follow the story.

Throughout the book the use of perspective (you are looking through a window) and impeccable details makes the illustrations jump off the page.  Ada's kitty makes an appearance on most pages. In this book the illustrations are just as important as the words.







COMPARISONS/RECOMMENDED READING:

Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer by Diane Stanley also explores the famous computer programmer.  This title was an ALA Notable book and received a starred review from Booklist. This biography takes a more whimsical approach to the illustrations.  Again touching on the same topic Stanley focuses more on Ada's parents relationship and drama than the other two biographies.  This title would be considered more fanciful.  This title is listed for preschool-3, and the preview titles are listed for a little older audience.  

This book talk explores a comparison title Ada's  Ideas: The Story of Ada Lovelace, the World's  First Computer Programmer.  While the content  may be similar, the illustrations are very  different from the title above.  This title appears  to focus more on Ada's ideas (inventions) as  opposed to just computing. It is not that one title is inherently better than the other, but having  students compare the titles for accuracy, content, and illustrations would add to the learning  experience.   


SUGGESTED USES: If you are teaching lessons on famous women in science, have a STEM book club, or just want to offer an interesting biography this book does the trick.  Marcie Colleen offers a curriculum guide to Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine. You could use the three biographies by comparing/contrasting, taking a vote as to which biography is a favorite, and determining whether their source material was valid.  Marcie Colleen's curriculum guide meets the following educational standards:

Common Core Aligned for Grades 1-4 in both ELA and Math
1st grade: ELA.RL.1.1,2,3,5,7; RI.1.1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9; W.1.2,3; SL.1.1,2; L.1.1,2,4; MATH 1.OA.3; 1.MD.4
2nd grade: ELA.RL.2.1,3,5,6,7; RI.2.1,2,3,4,6,8,9; W.2.1,2,3; SL.2.1,2,5; L.2.1,2,3,4; MATH 2.OA.1 3rd grade: ELA.RL.3.1,3,4,7; RI.3.1,2,3,4,6,7; W.3.1,2,3,4,7,8; SL.3.1,2,3,4,5; L.3.1,2,3,4; MATH 3.OA.1; 3.MD.2
4th grade: ELA.RL.4.1,2,3,4,6; RI.4.1,2,3,4; W.4.1,2,3,4,7; SL.4.1,2,5; L.4.1,2,3,4; MATH 4.OA.1,5