This past week, I held class for my teacher candidates in the library attached to our building. That's right, I'm lucky enough to have an education library attached to the building I teach in. I wanted my teacher candidates to have easy access to lots of picturebooks for our class session, and it was wonderful. Of course, I couldn't resist checking out a few picturebooks myself.
I left the library with five books in tow! When I returned to my office, I discovered I picked up two books about Ada Lovelace, so today, I am featuring those selections.
Often, women get omitted from history. This is a product of societal norms that have evolved (somewhat) to the present day, but it is still difficult for women to enter into specific professions. More concerning, many people believe it is a unique choice for women to be part of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. That is simply not true. Women have been part of these fields for as long as they have existed, but their contributions have not been recognized.
Both of the selections below do an excellent job providing information about an important historical figure, who happens to be a woman. :)
Ada Lovelace: Poet of Science by Diane Stanley
Ada Lovelace is getting a lot of love these days, and for good reason. She is credited with being one of the first computer programmers in history, and the first woman. YAY! I also did not know that she was the daughter of Lord Byron, who had quite the reputation with the ladies (which I did know).
In this book, we learn about Ada Lovelace's life. This book begins by telling a little information about Ada's father and mother. Her father was Lord Byron, a famous, well-respected poet. He was a big deal in his time. Her mother was a mathematician and very logical and organized. She put her daughter in a heavy, rich educational program to steer her away from creativity so she would not be like her father. It didn't work, and she capitalized on being both logical and creative.
I loved this book! It was fun to read, interesting, and engaging. I really enjoyed seeing Ada's life unfold and learning about how she became a computer programmer (in the context of history). There is a lot of history and science in this book, and it is beautifully illustrated.
by Fiona Robinson
A second book about Ada Lovelace - I told you she was popular. This book would make a great pairing with the previous title. Students could examine how two different authors detail Ada Lovelace's life and accomplishments.
This book read more historical than the first, while the first book I mentioned read more scientific. Here, we get more details about Ada's life, like the fact that she became severely ill with the measles as a child. She became so weak, she had difficulty walking for three years! This event led to her being an avid reader, which shaped her accomplishments later in life. In this book, there is also a greater focus on how women were treated in Ada's day and how she overcame stereotypes against successful women.
As a teacher, I would pair this book with other texts about women or about Ada Lovelace. This would make a great text set selection or a great fiction/nonfiction pairing.
Happy Reading!!
Happy Reading!!
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