Hedy Lamarr's Double Life: Hollywood Legend and Brilliant Inventor
(People Who Shaped Our World #4)

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.)

K-Gr 4--This picture book biography introduces young readers to the Hollywood legend famous for her beauty and the many hit movies in which she starred throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and her passion for science and technology. Lamarr's zeal is conveyed superbly. Growing up in Austria in the 1920s, she wanted to understand how things worked. She took apart her toys to study their mechanisms and, during long walks with her father, explored subjects ranging from streetcars to the night sky. She also reenacted her favorite scenes from movies on a stage she built beneath her father's desk. Wallmark brings Lamarr to life by including quotes from her subject. During World War II, Lamarr worked with another inventor on technology called frequency hopping, which is still in use today and allows users to send and receive secure cell phone messages and protect computers from hackers. The back matter includes a spread detailing frequency-hopping in more depth. Vibrant digital artwork expands upon the text by showcasing a handful of Lamarr's other inventions and using period details to convey the golden era of Hollywood. VERDICT A must for both school and public libraries, especially where collections are looking to increase their STEM holdings and round out biography collections with women working in science.-Samantha Lumetta, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County