Member Reviews
Ada Lovelace is a new addition to the Little People, Big Dreams series of historical biographies. Although I've reviewed a number of titles in this series on my blog, I'm amazed each time at the level of detail the authors and artists manage to provide in an age appropriate manner.
Released 1st March 2018 by Quarto on their Frances Lincoln imprint, it's 32 pages and available in boardbook, hardcover, and ebook formats.
These books are aimed at the very youngest readers (or pre-readers) and though many of the subjects lived difficult lives, the difficulties and traumas are handled in a sensitive compassionate manner. This book would make a superlative read-along, library or classroom reading circle selection or gift for a favorite youngster.
Written by Isabel Sánchez Vegara it's well written in clear accessible language. I really got a smile out of the fact that she referred to Ada's parents as "liking maths and poetry". and The art by Zafouko Yamamoto is engaging and supports the text very well. There are a number of details in the illustrations which made me smile like the picture of Ada and her kitty, Mrs. Puff, hiding under the table.
Well written and appealing, I am really enjoying all of these little books. This one is a worthy addition.
Five stars.
The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The ‘My First Little People, Big Dreams’ series provides informative and inspirational biographies about people who left a mark on this earth, no matter what difficulties they have encountered.
These stories are very short, but that’s because they’re books for children, so it’s totally understandable.
I think they are a very smart and wonderful way to introduce little children to such important figures.
This little book tells the story of Ada Lovelace. I have to admit that I knew very little about her, so I was curious to now more. I've been fascinated by her brilliant mind. She is considered the world's first computer programmer because the algorithm she invented is the one our computers still use nowadays!
This is the fourth I have read in this series and I loved this new book. "Ada Lovelace" by Isabel Sanchez Vegara, Zafouko Yamamoto.
Its simple biography book about Ada Lovelace, a brilliant British mathematician and the daughter of Lord Byron.
This book highlights Ada's love of logic and science it has lovely illustrations throughout.
This story is sweet and very good for young readers of various ages to read and learn about a great British mathematician and a great book for the classroom
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Children's for the opportunity in exchange for honest feedback.
I love this series! My 4 year old daughter and I have been studying strong women as part of our homeschool curriculum and these books are the perfect introduction before digging deeper. I LOVE the illustrations and simple story lines. Great message as well.
Another wonderful children’s book that informs parents as well as their young ones.
Now I am sure some grown ups will have heard about Ada, the world’s ignorance is a reflection on my own lack of knowledge. However, I have heard about Charles Babbage and his work.
Surely, Ada Lovelace has not just passed me by ‘cos she is a women?
We should read these mini biographies to our children and redress our own lack of scientific talent and women of merit. I can not champion this book highly enough. It is short, interesting, funny and intelligent. The drawings are delightful and contain element of humour and interest beyond the story.
The words used are clear, not overcomplicated but in the process a story that needs telling is told.
A book for the very young that may actually be over-simplifying things for the junior, junior reader. Part of a series of inspirational tales from the lives of famous dead people, we see Ada (and her cat) working on being an adult and getting a code for a huge calculating machine, and therefore inventing computers. But it's almost impossible with so few words to get across the import of what she did, and I don't think this book does. The artwork is specifically designed to be child-friendly, as in it looks like what a child might do (is that a space rocket? No, it's a blackbird). In much the same way as another book in the series, concerning Stephen Hawking, couldn't really get primary school aged readers interested in extra-black hole radiation, so this has been pushed back for an even younger audience, and I think too far into the realm of the basic. Yes, there's the beginning, middle and end of her story, and it's nice to see her meet with a laptop at the end, but this book is concerned with saying so little, it's really saying too little.
Ada Lovelace's life told for children. Wonderful pictures and it shows her most important accomplishments. Another wonderful edition to the Little People library.
This series of books, "Little People, Big Dreams" is so wonderful. In introduces children, with very simple pictures and stories, to people they might never have heard of otherwise. In this case, Ada Lovelace is, as the book says, the first computer programmer, before their were even computers.
She is someone who is cool to know about, and this book makes her easy to understand.
And the illustrations are a delight. Here is one where she is trying to write the programming language.
<img src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Screen-Shot-2018-01-28-at-12.10.32-AM.png">
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
I am so glad this book series exists. The illustrations are gorgeous and they are such an easy and fun way to get very young children interested in history early on while inspiring them with stories of little people who have changed the world in their own ways. Ada Lovelace shows how women can do anything they put their minds to.
This is my second book from the “Little People, Big Dreams” series. In this edition, we learn about Ada Lovelace and her passion for mathematics and invention. Learners will love the cute cat found throughout the book, and can begin to appreciate how Lovelace’s work inspired all of the tech we use today. The art is attractive and kid-friendly. I’d recommend for any unit or program on science, invention, tech, and women’s history.
Thanks to Netgalley for the e-ARC.
This is the first board book version that I've read from the Little People, BIG DREAMS series. As usual, the illustrations are quite nice and sweet. The text is quite short, which is to be expected of most board books, but I found it too simple.
I was really excited to see the Ada Lovelace book. As a computer scientist myself, I'm a fan of Lovelace, but it's a bit of a stretch to say she created the language that computers use today. I wanted to buy the longer version of this book, but I'll have to check first if such a claim is in there as well. Proper fact-checking should be a priority for this kind of books.
I received an eARC of this book from Quarto Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks!
I love lite Ada Lovelace I want every child to get access to this short one!
Very inspirational, and the illustrations beautiful!
It's a nice tribute to great minds!
What an absolutely charming book. The illustrations are beautiful and will definitely appeal to babies, young children, early readers and the adult reader alike. Just enough information given in the simple text to be interesting and informative for everyone. An absolute delight……”When you use your imagination, your dreams can take flight”
I would like to thank the Author/the Publishers/NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review
Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.
As with the other titles in this series, this is a beautifully illustrated account of the life of Ada Lovelace. It would be suitable to use with primary age children and would be a good starting point for discussion.
Working with upper primary, I would have liked more information but this would be a good place to start by getting the children interested before we find out more ourselves. I can see this inspiring some of the girls who enjoy maths but also it could be useful for challenging the stereotypical notion that a career in a mathematical field is 'for boys'.
Another to add to the class library!
This is quite possible one of the most important figures within the whole of history. I am ashamed to say that up until reading this Little People, Big Dreams I didn’t have a clue who Ada was.
This My first... edition gave me, an adult, such a wonderful feeling of inspiration and awe. I can only begin to imagine what power it could have in the hands of a child.
It’s certainly made me want to know more and I already know i’ll be trying to find a copy of the older and expanded edition first.
This series is always a joy to read, it’s a really nice introduction to well known people for little children. Of course the plot is always a little bit fast but that’s to be expected and it’s totally understandable.
I've always been fascinated by Ada Lovelace, someone who we must be truly thankful for. She basically was the first computer programmer in history and her works were useful to create what we today call a computer. What an interesting mind and inspiring person that she was. This is a great introduction for children so that they can learn about the early stages of the computer.
I didn't realize there were two versions of this book. This is the board book, which appears to be a little bit shorter. I don't know if there are any other differences.
The book tells the basic story of Ada Lovelace, although I think it might be a little too basic. I highly doubt that, when she met Charles Babbage, they walked around saying "1+2=3" and "3+1=4" like they were having a stimulating conversation. I'm also doubtful of the assertion that the code Ada came up with for Babbage's calculator "is the language computers use today".
The pictures here are okay, but kind of rough and juvenile. I'm guessing that each book in this series has a different illustrator. The illustrations here just didn't impress me that much.
I wouldn't mind having a look at the longer version of the book to see if there's anything I missed. I suppose this is okay for a board book, but for anyone a little bit older, it's probably going to seem simplistic and incomplete.
This is a cute, extremely simplified life of Ada Lovelace for very young children. I think that it (like many in this series) would be a nice introduction to Lovelace for pre-readers.