Meet the Expert: Laurie Wallmark, computer scientist and children’s author
Award-winning author Laurie Wallmark is a former software engineer and computer science professor. She writes picture book biographies of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) as well as fiction. Her books have earned five starred trade reviews, been chosen as Junior Library Guild Selections, and received awards such as Outstanding Science Trade Book, Best STEM Book, Cook Prize Honor Book, Crystal Kite Award, Mathical Honor Book, and Parents’ Choice Gold Medal. Her titles include ADA BYRON LOVELACE AND THE THINKING MACHINE, GRACE HOPPER: QUEEN OF COMPUTER CODE, HEDY LAMARR’S DOUBLE LIFE, NUMBERS IN MOTION, and CODE BREAKER, SPY HUNTER. Laurie has an MFA in Writing from VCFA. You can find Laurie on the Web at www.lauriewallmark.com and @lauriewallmark.
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Challenge:
Come up with your own code and use it to write a secret message to your friends or your parents.
Let us know how it worked OR send us a coded message and see if we can decode it!
We LOVE hearing from you!! If you liked this episode, leave a comment below OR share with us on our Twitter , Instagram or Facebook page.
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Highlighted book for this episode:
Code Breaker, Spy Hunter: How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars
by Laurie Wallmark (Author), Brooke Smart (Illustrator)
Book List:
Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code by Laurie Wallmark (Author), Katy Wu (Illustrator)
Hedy Lamarr’s Double Life: Hollywood Legend and Brilliant Inventor by Laurie Wallmark (Author), Katy Wu (Illustrator)
Ada Byron Lovelace & the Thinking Machine by Laurie Wallmark (Author), April Chu (Illustrator)
Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics by Laurie Wallmark (Author), Yevgenia Nayberg (Illustrator)
I listened to this episode and then showed the video to my 6th-grade class to make some code. They are interested in the program that he used to crack the code. He said it was attached, but I can’t find the program here or on YouTube. Do you have any idea where I can find it?
Hi Chris, the back of the book shows how to make and break a simple Caesar cipher. It’s not a program (although they do exist), but rather a pen and paper activity.
Here’s a link to the free activity sheet that gives the same information: https://www.lauriewallmark.com/resources/CodeBreakerSpyHunter_ActivitySheets.pdf
In addition, on my website, I have a curriculum guide that gives cross-curricular activities.
https://www.lauriewallmark.com/resources/Code%20Breaker,%20Spy%20Hunter%20Guide.pdf