Sanchez Vegara, Maria Isabel. Hedy Lamarr. Maggie Cole, Illus. Little People, Big Dreams Series. Frances Lincoln, 01/2023. [32]pp. Biography. Trade $15.99. 978-0-7112-4669-0. GRADES K-3. ADDITIONAL.
In this picture book biography, 1930-1950s actress Hedy Lamarr is celebrated because she was also an inventor. She and a partner invented a communication system called signal hopping which was intended to aid in World War II, and is the basis of cell phone and wifi technology. She was never paid for the invention since the patent was donated to the U.S. government to help in the war effort. Unfortunately, there is no mention that Lamarr’s parents were Jewish. Full-page illustrations appear to be rendered in gouache and have a cartoonish style, and the final two pages have more facts and four b&w photos of Lamarr. Wallmark’s Hedy Lamarr’s Double Life (Sterling, 2019) is preferrable. Review based on an ARC.
Penny Peck—San Jose University iSchool