Ada Byron Lovelace of 19th-century England might have been a computer programmer, if computers had been invented during her lifetime. In this lavishly illustrated picture-book biography, readers are introduced to a brilliant young mathematician who had a prescient vision for the potential of computers.
A love of numbers ran in the family. Ada's mother, Lady Byron, had such a passion for geometry she was nicknamed the "Princess of Parallelograms." Ada's father, Lord Byron, was world-renowned for his Romantic poems, but to Ada's mother, he was a "scandalous" man she didn't want near her daughter. Lady Byron fled with her baby to London, and Ada never saw her father again. Ada was a lonely child, but "[h]er journals, filled with pages of inventions and equations, kept her company." Debut author Laurie Wallmark zeroes in on Ada's childhood fascination with numbers, flying machines and, eventually, the intellectual pursuits of mathematicians Mary Fairfax Somerville and Charles Babbage, the visionary behind the "Analytical Engine," a precursor to the modern computer.
April Chu's artfully composed, pencil-on-paper illustrations celebrate Ada's creative mind at work with a swirl of cast-off sketches of the young inventor in her ruffled Victorian dresses and luxurious surroundings. Her cat is never far from view, often mirroring the story's small dramas with amusing expressions.
This picture book is a visually rich peek into Victorian high society, an inspiring tribute to the life of the mind, and a fine introduction to Ada Byron Lovelace, a lesser-known pioneer in the field of computer science. --Karin Snelson, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness