The most recent installment of the Little People Big Dreams series, Alan Turing is a simple biography, perfect for young readers. Introverts everywhere will find a relatable figure in Turing, and illustrations will engage emerging readers. A timeline, photos, and extra details at the back make for good conversation points for caregivers or librarians to share with children.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance electronic copy in exchange for my honest review.

Although I liked this book about Alan Turing, especially as it mentioned vaguely what happened to him after the war, I felt it was perhaps a bit too brief. I liked the illustrations though.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I love the picture books that Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara does. They are perfect for little children.
This one is a picture book that introduces the little readers to the incredible life of the igenius code cracker and father of the theoretical computer science and A. I. , Alan Turing.
It is written in simple sentences, which are perfect for the little ones and it offers them inspiring messages.
I love how quirky the illustrations are.

I love that Turing's homosexuality was addressed.

A good introduction to the life and accomplishments of Alan Turing for early readers. The bold, bright illustrations compliment the text nicely, and the text covers the more difficult aspects of his life in an age appropriate way, and will lead to further discussion. Love this series!

#AlanTuring #NetGalley

One of my faves

This series is always a good read with my son and it was exciting to see another LGBTQ individual featured (we had previously read the Bowie book).

Wonderful tribute to Alan Turing's great accomplishments, while also acknowledging his horribly unjust treatment by the British government at that time. I love that children can discover his story in this way. It's not a exactly a story with a happy ending, and the author doesn't shy away from the ugly truths Alan Turing had to confront, but does so in a way that is appropriate for young readers. The illustrations are beautiful, with a lot of small details and a colorful elegance that fits the setting of the story and is perfect to draw the attention of its young audience too.

''Even a broken clock is right twice a day.''
(quote from the 2014 film The Imitation Game)

Alan was a shy boy. His brain could work in such mysterious, fascinating ways and difficult math problems were only a child's puzzle to him. He soon discovered that there is another driving force in life besides Science. He discovered love.

But Fate had decided differently and the most terrible war, the most frightening era in History was about to begin...

Alan thought and thought, his dream seemed impossible. How could anyone create a machine that would be able to calculate anything calculable? Alan and his colleagues, engineers, chess players, mathematicians, were asked to use numbers and codes not to solve a mere mathematical problem but to achieve the highest ideal. To save innocent lives from a threat that slowly swallowed everyone and everything.

It is estimated that over 14 million lives were saved when the Enigma was broken. The Nazis were unable to resurrect it and the war was won. Everything was done in secrecy, the world didn't know that it was Alan and a small group of brilliant minds that have contributed to the defeat of the nightmare.

His country did not pay attention to his work, though. The fact that Alan was a homosexual was far more important than his invaluable gift to our world. Horrible ''treatments'', abuse, persecution. This was what he deserved according to the Labouchere Amendment, a tyrannical law.

Alan Turing died at the age of 41 due to cyanide poisoning. His legacy lives in our homes, in our freedom, in the society that has become much more open-minded and accepting (although the road is still long...).

''Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.''
(Alan Turing)

Many thanks to Frances Lincoln Children's Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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