Asha and Baz Meet Hedy Lamarr

Caroline Fernandez | Common Deer Press

108p, trade paper, $7.99, ISBN 978-1988-76178-7

A magic stick and a penchant for solving problems color this charming middle-grade read about Asha and Baz, two young students who are determined to find the answer to their computer class’s seemingly impossible Code Challenge. Described as “the most creative and smartest pair in the class,” the two can’t stomach the taste of defeat when they’re unable to crack the code—driving Asha to turn to their magic stick, capable of time travel, for help. That launches them straight back to 1941, on a film studio set where someone most unexpected seems to have the smarts they need to puzzle out the problem: the storied actress Hedy Lamarr.

The concept here is entertaining, if not wholly original, and Hedy is every bit as glamorous and brilliant as she was in real life. She’s in the midst of working on several inventions (including her true-to-life Coca-Cola tablet) and manages to handle the era’s discriminations with grace, never letting them slow down her efforts to help victims of the first World War. When Asha and Baz show up on her set as extras, they immediately sense something special about Hedy and request her help with their coding project. Hedy cheerfully agrees, and soon Asha and Baz are getting an up-close view of Hedy’s work on frequency hopping to stymie the Nazis’ efforts at blocking radio signals.

Fernandez keeps the focus on Hedy’s admirable perseverance despite the many obstacles standing in her way: even the fear that the U.S. patent office will ignore her application because “an actress inventing a communication system might be funny to some people” doesn’t stop her from submitting for a patent, and that lesson to never give up is a valuable one for Asha and Baz. In a unique stylistic touch, Patel evokes the glimmer and gusto of the 1940s in the book’s fitting black and white illustrations. This inspires as much as it teaches.

Time travel takes two friends to the 1940s for valuable lessons on problemsolving and perseverance.

Great for fans of Linda Buckley-Archer’s The Time Travelers, Dan Gutman’s Flashback Four series.