(3) K-3 Illustrated by Stevie Lewis. A picture-book biography of the world’s all-time strongest female chess player traces the Hungarian trailblazer’s journey from child prodigy to becoming the youngest chess grandmaster in history. Wallmark relates how Polgár’s coaches and uber-supportive family helped her make all the right moves to maximize her talent, and recounts the iconic, aggressive endgames that propelled her to international stardom en route to her crowning achievement. The book does not stand on ceremony when it comes to calling out the flagrant misogyny in the chess world, but sacrifices some emotional texture by failing to register other challenges Polgár and her family faced. Lewis’s digital illustrations in a palette of mostly neutral colors underscore Polgár’s steadiness and cool-headedness, as well as the stability provided by her parents and sisters.

Reviewer: Summer Edward

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Katy Wu. WWII-era film star Hedy Lamarr (1914–2000) was also an inventor whose "brain overflowed with idea after idea." Though Lamarr's technology is widely used in today's electronics, it took decades for her work to be acknowledged. Well-chosen quotes reveal Lamarr's frustration with people's assumptions about her intelligence based on her "pretty face." Approachable digital illustrations ably portray Lamarr in glitz-and-glam-Hollywood mode and at her inventing table. Reading list, timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2019

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Katy Wu. Grace Hopper was mechanically, scientifically, and mathematically minded since childhood, as this biography playfully explains via several anecdotes. Then, while serving almost fifty years in the Navy, she broke barriers for women--and for computer science. A biographical poem graces the front endpapers; the back endpapers mention Hopper's honors. Kid-appealing digital cartoons are reminiscent of Hopper's own propensity for doodling. Reading list, timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Christina Dorr