Dreaming in Code: ADA Byron Lovelace, Computer Pioneer

Gr 5-8--Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), daughter of poet Lord Bryon, was raised in privilege by her mother, married into an aristocratic, titled family, and received an outstanding education for a woman in the 19th-century. Always inquisitive and showing qualities of genius, Ada had the best tutors in mathematics and science. She met many important men of science, including inventor Charles Babbage. They worked together and produced concepts that presage computer programming. These concepts, as well as Babbage's design of an analytical engine, were forerunners of today's computers. Ada's restless spirit, addiction to gambling, use of narcotics, and poor health plagued her in the last years of her life. She was never able to overcome the prejudice against women in science. For example, she wasn't allowed to enter the building of the Royal Society nor borrow books from its library. This book is divided into five parts that chronicle Ada's life. In addition to the strong supporting back matter, the use of citations is an outstanding feature of this volume. VERDICT An exceptional biography and an important addition for all STEM collections.--Patricia Ann Owens, formerly at Illinois Eastern Community College, Mt. Carmel

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

McCully (She Did It!) dramatically details the life of Augusta Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), the person first credited with understanding a computer's potential beyond mathematical calculation. Lovelace's father was the poet Lord Byron, and her childhood was framed by her principled, domineering mother's determination to eradicate all traces of his paternity. Privately tutored in mathematics to ward off any poetical instincts, Lovelace thrived intellectually even as she endured physical ill-health and her mother's emotional coldness. Her introduction at age 17 to her future mentor and collaborator Charles Babbage, inventor of the earliest computer prototypes, changed her life, offering intellectual food and challenge. McCully proceeds with clear explanations of Lovelace's intellectual activities--in particular, Note G, in which Lovelace proposes an algorithm considered to be the first for a computer--while blending a largely sympathetic view of her personal life: marriage, offspring, gambling and other addictions, and early death from uterine cancer. Archival photos and illustrations, appendices, source notes, a glossary, and a bibliography deepen the portrait of this singular figure whose impact on science and technology has long been understated. Ages 10-14. (Mar.)

Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), daughter of poet Lord Bryon, was raised in privilege by her mother, married into an aristocratic, titled family, and received an outstanding education for a woman in the 19th-century...This book is divided into five parts that chronicle Ada's life. In addition to the strong supporting back matter, the use of citations is an outstanding feature of this volume. An exceptional biography and an important addition for all STEM collections.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

Dreaming in Code is written with grace and intelligence, researched with care and peppered with historic photos and remarkable illustrations of 19th-century technology. It's sure to inspire a new generation of pioneers unwilling to let obstacles distract them from leading the way into the future.
—Shelf Awareness for Readers (starred review)

Here McCully offers middle-schoolers a biography at once more nuanced about Lovelace's enduring contribution to computer development and vastly more involving about the domestic dramas that marked her life with her controlling mother, her supportive but ultimately unloved husband, and her largely ignored children...The eminently readable text moves swiftly, and portrait reproductions included throughout underscore the polished society in which nineteenth-century sciences flourished.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)

A biography of Ada Lovelace, widely celebrated as the first computer programmer...McCully demonstrates that although Ada had the potential to achieve more, she was hampered by sexism, ill health, and a temperament akin to her father's...A sophisticated yet accessible piece that humanizes a tragic, brilliant dreamer.
—Kirkus Reviews

Interest in Ada Byron Lovelace and other female pioneers of science has soared of late. This young adult biography is a particularly exemplary example of the burgeoning genre and should find a home in all libraries...McCully's work is imminently readable, with short chapters and lavish illustrations. It also includes meaty appendixes and source notes for teen scholars. A worthy addition to biography bookshelves.
—Booklist

Dreaming in Code is written with grace and intelligence, researched with care and peppered with historic photos and remarkable illustrations of 19th-century technology. It's sure to inspire a new generation of pioneers unwilling to let obstacles distract them from leading the way into the future.
—Shelf Awareness Pro

McCully (She Did It!) dramatically details the life of Augusta Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), the person first credited with understanding a computer's potential beyond mathematical calculation...Archival photos and illustrations, appendices, source notes, a glossary, and a bibliography deepen the portrait of this singular figure whose impact on science and technology has long been understated.
—Publishers Weekly Online

McCully paints Lovelace's life as one revealing spurts of brilliance but also defined by a domineering mother; strange maladies; indifference toward her children and husband; a fascination with gambling (and resultant financial ruin); and a possible addiction to laudanum. Readers see a complex woman trapped by history, deserving both sympathy and admiration.
—The Horn Book

Timely and effective, Dreaming in Code is an important project, promoting girls' contributions in science, and an inspiration to young people in search of creative outlets for their unique intellect.
—New York Journal of Books

"Everyone who uses computers should know about Ada Lovelace. This lively biography is a great place to learn the story."
—Steve Sheinkin, three-time National Book Award finalist

"Meticulous research combined with elegant prose introduces young readers to this important piece of hidden history."
—Doreen Rappaport, award-winning author of multiple biographies for young readers

"A masterful depiction of science as it was conducted some two hundred years ago."
—Harriet Reisen, author of Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

"Combining vivid narrative with impeccable research, Emily Arnold McCully not only gives readers a fresh and captivating live story, but also returns Ada Lovelace to her rightful place in history. I loved it!"
—Candace Fleming, author of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winners The Family Romanov and The Lincolns

"This is a beautifully written and utterly fascinating account of the life of the unsung heroine of the computer age, Ada Byron Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron. She was a mathematical genius and the inventor of computer programming. The obstacles Ada overcame — physical illness, a pathologically controlling mother, and, above all, the misogyny of the scientific establishment — defy the imagination. Without her, we would not have the vast networks of the computer age that underlie our modern world."
—Dinitia Smith, author of The Honeymoon

"Combining vivid narrative with impeccable research, Emily Arnold McCully not only gives readers a fresh and captivating live story, but also returns Ada Lovelace to her rightful place in history. I loved it!"
—Candace Fleming, author of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winners The Family Romanov and The Lincolns