Great colleagues are one of the benefits of working in the world of young adult literature. I always get a boost when I talk with Sharon Kane. She is inspiring and insightful. Her past contribution to Dr. Bickmore’s YA Wednesday has spurred a joint project that we will be talking about soon. Today, Sharon is going to discuss Ada Lovelace Day so you can all be prepared for October 11, 2016. She will also be posting again on October 12 to discuss how she works with Awards in her class and with others. You see, she is a font of information. In between those two posting, there will be another special Friday edition of Dr. Bickmore’s YA Wednesday! Chris Crutcher is coming to Las Vegas for the Vegas Valley Book Festival (which was previewed here) on October 15, 2016. To foreshadow that event will discuss his many contributions and review resources from the recent banned book week. Amazing that Chris Crutcher and banned books would show up in the same paragraph.
Are you ready for Ada Lovelace Day? When my students tell me that they don’t know Ada Lovelace, and that they never learned about her in school, I tell them that’s exactly why we need Ada Lovelace Day. It’s an international celebration of women in the STEM fields, including women whose contributions were downplayed during their lives and/or neglected by history. You can find ideas relating to past and upcoming events at www.findingada.com. On October 11, people around the globe will be dancing; reciting poetry; conducting scientific experiments; coding; relating personal experiences; creating art in library “Makerspaces”; performing skits; and visiting the grave Ada shares with her father, Lord Byron. They’ll search for and add to YouTube clips starring this remarkable mathematician, known as the first computer programmer, and nicknamed the “Enchantress of Number” by her collaborator Charles Babbage. I’ll limit my post (mostly) to discussing books that are appropriate for a unit, learning center, or classroom display for those preparing to celebrate next week in a little or a big way.
Let’s start with books about Ada herself; it’s quite possible to become obsessed with the ever-growing body of biographies, informational books, and fictional works relating to her. (Just ask my friends.) In the picture book category, we have Diane Stanley and Jessie Hartland’s just-released (October 4) Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer, as well as Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine, by Laurie Wallmark and April Chu. At the higher end, my favorite is Ada’s Algorithm: How Lord Byron’s Daughter Ada Lovelace Launched the Digital Age, by James Essinger. (You can read book talks for the last two books mentioned on my blog, www.hhpcommunities.com/youngadultlit.)
Let’s start with books about Ada herself; it’s quite possible to become obsessed with the ever-growing body of biographies, informational books, and fictional works relating to her. (Just ask my friends.) In the picture book category, we have Diane Stanley and Jessie Hartland’s just-released (October 4) Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer, as well as Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine, by Laurie Wallmark and April Chu. At the higher end, my favorite is Ada’s Algorithm: How Lord Byron’s Daughter Ada Lovelace Launched the Digital Age, by James Essinger. (You can read book talks for the last two books mentioned on my blog, www.hhpcommunities.com/youngadultlit.)
Several collective biographies contain chapters on Ada; among them are Historical Heartthrobs: 50 Timeless Crushes—from Cleopatra to Camus, by Kelly Murphy with Hallie Fryd ; and a beautiful new illustrated collection by Rachel Ignotofsky, Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers who Changed the World.
Ada’s mother provided her with a rigorous mathematics and science education in an effort to curb a dangerous trait inherited from her father—imagination. What would she think of the directions in which present-day authors have taken Ada’s story! Jordan Stratford has a fictional series called The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency, starring Ada and her contemporary Mary Shelley. Sydney Padua offers the graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer. It’s a wild ride through an alternate history.
Ada’s mother provided her with a rigorous mathematics and science education in an effort to curb a dangerous trait inherited from her father—imagination. What would she think of the directions in which present-day authors have taken Ada’s story! Jordan Stratford has a fictional series called The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency, starring Ada and her contemporary Mary Shelley. Sydney Padua offers the graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer. It’s a wild ride through an alternate history.
I’m sure Ada would appreciate knowing that she and her algorithm live on in books and on the Internet; and that the U.S. Department of Defense named a software program Ada in her honor. I imagine she’d have fun learning what can be done in the 21st century with artificial intelligence and augmented reality. What contemporary books might Ada appreciate? She’d feel an affinity for a twentieth century collaborator extraordinaire when reading biographies of Paul Erdös such as The Man who Loved Only Numbers, by Paul Hoffman, or The Boy who Loved Math, by Deborah Heiligman. In Code: A Mathematical Journey, by Sara Flannery, tells of an American teen who gained world fame after creating an algorithm.
Two novels, John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines and Gretchen McNeil’s I’m Not Your Manic Pixie Dream Girl, feature protagonists who strive to create algorithms that will change their social lives. Carlos Bueno blends fiction and nonfiction in Lauren Ipsum: A Story about Computer Science and Other Improbable Things. There are many resources for learning about coding, including Technology: Cool Women who Code, by Andi Diehn and Lena Chandhok; and Awesome Algorithms and Creative Coding, by Clive Gifford. There are books showing how coding has impacted history, such as The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded, by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Purvis, a biography offered in a graphic novel format. Box Brown’s Tetris: The Games People Play tells the story of computer scientist Alexey Pajitnov, creator of the video game Tetris.
We owe a great debt to Ada Byron Lovelace. I believe we are beginning to make good on that debt with the emergence of literature, some in the YA range, related to her life and to mathematics, which was her passion. And we are paying it forward as we celebrate Ada Lovelace Day on the second Tuesday of every October, encouraging our young women to appreciate the wonder that can be found in the STEM subjects and to consider a career in a field that, while generally considered inappropriate for females in Ada’s lifetime, holds great potential for all the young people in our present learning communities.
Two novels, John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines and Gretchen McNeil’s I’m Not Your Manic Pixie Dream Girl, feature protagonists who strive to create algorithms that will change their social lives. Carlos Bueno blends fiction and nonfiction in Lauren Ipsum: A Story about Computer Science and Other Improbable Things. There are many resources for learning about coding, including Technology: Cool Women who Code, by Andi Diehn and Lena Chandhok; and Awesome Algorithms and Creative Coding, by Clive Gifford. There are books showing how coding has impacted history, such as The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded, by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Purvis, a biography offered in a graphic novel format. Box Brown’s Tetris: The Games People Play tells the story of computer scientist Alexey Pajitnov, creator of the video game Tetris.
We owe a great debt to Ada Byron Lovelace. I believe we are beginning to make good on that debt with the emergence of literature, some in the YA range, related to her life and to mathematics, which was her passion. And we are paying it forward as we celebrate Ada Lovelace Day on the second Tuesday of every October, encouraging our young women to appreciate the wonder that can be found in the STEM subjects and to consider a career in a field that, while generally considered inappropriate for females in Ada’s lifetime, holds great potential for all the young people in our present learning communities.
Happy Ada Lovelace Day. Let’s build something beautiful.
Look for the special Friday edition about Chris Crutcher and Banned Books!
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