Even readers who don't know Hedy Lamarr, "the world's most beautiful woman," will become fans after learning how she balanced her fame as a 1930s movie star with a passion for science and inventing. Growing up in Austria, Lamarr acted in plays and explored mechanics before making it big in Hollywood. Both her artistic and scientific processes, success, and challenges are shown as the book focuses on her creation of a secure torpedo guidance system using "frequency-hopping," a technology that, though ignored during its initial inception, is found in many personal electronics today. Strong digital art, spread across colorful pages with varied layouts, is both dignified and fun, with diagrams of scientific principles placed near portraits of Lamarr's famous costars (Clark Gable, Judy Garland). Consistent in style and substance with the duo's previous Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code (2017), this includes helpful back matter and featured quotes that offer insight into Lamarr's perspective: in her unique life, she never failed to "do good . . . think big . . . [and] build."

Brilliance unrecognized.Bombshell actress Hedy Lamarr was worshipped for her beauty and elegance, but what the public didn't know was that she was an inventor. Interspersing descriptions of her various inventions and Lamarr's own words, the straightforward text and appealing, appropriately retro-feeling illustrations present a wide-eyed Lamarr as a multifaceted talent and portray both her life as a Hollywood star and her inquisitiveness and intellectual creativity, from her childhood in Austria through her acting heyday to her recognition as an inventor in her 80s. In this clear, appealing tale of an unsung heroine, Wallmark does not explicitly discuss the second-class status of female scientists but instead focuses on her subject's personality and achievements. The process of invention and inspiration are explained in a succinct and inspiring way, as is Lamarr's working partnership with composer and inventor George Antheil; their invention is relevant and used frequently in technology today. Fifty years later, Lamar is recognized, and her response forms the book's conclusion: "It's about time." Wu's illustrations focus on the book's white principals but include secondary characters of color, neatly shifting mode to help illustrate the technological principles under discussion. The extensive backmatter includes a timeline, bibliography, further reading—and, emblematic of the subject, a description of Lamarr's invention and a list of her films.Revelatory to young audiences in more ways than one. (Picture book/biography. 5-10)

Wallmark and Wu (Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code) add another title to the People Who Shaped Our World series, shining a spotlight on the lesser-known side of movie star Hedy Lamarr: the inventor. Lamarr, with friend George Antheil, came up with an idea for a secure torpedo guidance system during WWII, developing a technology that-s used today to secure digital communications. Her -frequency-hopping spread spectrum- allowed torpedo communications devices to rapidly change frequencies, reducing the chances its radio signal would be intercepted, changed, or blocked. Spreads include a quotation from the multifaceted Lamarr (-Improving things comes naturally to me-), and pages recap her inquisitive childhood in Vienna, other inventions, and acting history before explaining the concept of frequency hopping in digitally rendered cartoons. Part picture book biography and part tech primer, the volume concludes with a selected bibliography, a timeline, and a list of the star-s movies. Ages 5-up. Author-s agent: Liza Fleissig, Liza Royce Agency. Illustrator-s agent: Jennifer Mattson, Andrea Brown Literary. (Feb.)