ALA Booklist (Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2018)

"It's excruciating to leave certain details out," Stone laments in an appended note, but this large-format picture book covers a great deal of territory in 40 fully illustrated pages. Ada lived a complicated, sheltered childhood. Though expected to become a nineteenth-century English lady, she was extensively educated in mathematics. Later, she befriended scientist Charles Babbage, and they frequently discussed ideas for the Difference Engine (a mechanical calculator prototype) and his never-achieved plan for the Analytical Engine, a mechanical computer. Her notes on the Analytical Engine have led to her recognition as a forerunner of computer programming. It's hard to know what primary-grade children will make of the story, as they will probably know little of Lord Byron (Ada's father, whom she never met), Charles Babbage, or the history of computers. Still, the story will sweep them along, illuminated by Priceman's imaginative gouache-and-ink artwork, full of energy, swirling lines, and whimsy. A colorful picture-book biography of the Englishwoman variously known as Augusta Ada Gordon, Ada Byron, Ada Lovelace, and Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace.

Horn Book (Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

This picture book biography covers the basics of computer programmer Lovelace's (181552) life: the conflict between her practical mother (a mathematician) and romantic father (poet Lord Byron); her pioneering work with Charles Babbage; etc. The book's layout mirrors Lovelace's own analytical and imaginative sides, with a clean Helvetica type carrying the straightforward text and Priceman's warmly curved gouache and ink illustrations creating colorful flights of fancy. Bib.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In a vibrant follow-up to Who Says Women Can-t Be Doctors? (about Elizabeth Blackwell), Stone explores the life of Ada Lovelace, whose imagination rivaled that of her poet father, Lord Byron, to the chagrin of her mother. Lovelace found a kindred spirit in scientist Charles Babbage, and her imagination and mathematical knowledge helped her recognize that his proposed Analytical Engine -not only had the power to process numbers, but it would be able to create things like pictures and music-just as computers do today!- Working in her familiar style of bright, swooping gouache illustrations, Priceman fills the pages with numbers, letters, and mathematical computations-at one point, Lovelace soars above the city, borne on angel wings of numerals and symbols. She emerges as an independent innovator whose enthusiasms are contagious, and an afterword offers additional fascinating details. Ages 6-9. Author-s agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. (Feb.)

School Library Journal (Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2018)

Gr 3-5 Joining the growing collection of biographies highlighting women in STEM careers, this charming, informative picture book provides young readers with a brief, lively introduction to Ada Byron Lovelace, whose interests and complex ideas were ahead of her 19th century reality. Lovelace was the child of gifted but scandalous English poet, Lord Byron, and his high society, mathematician wife. When Lord Byron abandoned the family, Lovelace's determined, educated mother made sure the child was well-tutored in science, math and social norms rather than imagination and fancy. But, Lovelace's creativity and passion were irrepressible. She befriended polymath, Charles Babbage, whose inventions intrigued her. Babbage envisioned an Analytical Engine, modeled on the Jacquard Loom for textiles, using punch cards for processing numbers instead of threads. Lovelace devised additional Analytic Engine algorithms that could also create pictures and music, "just as computers do today!" An addendum provides more historical details on Lovelace's marriage, her fragile health, her connection with leading scientists of the time, her long friendship with Babbage, and her name changes. On every page, the gouache and India ink artwork offers a vivid, energetic depiction of people, events, and swirling ideas. The art meshes smoothly with the conversational storytelling, capturing the exuberance, elegance, and giftedness of this exceptional woman. VERDICT This appealing picture book will spark immense pride and prompt readers to do their own investigations into the world of mathematics and computers. Gerry Larson, formerly at Durham School of the Arts, NC