Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and the Personal Computer
Illustrator: Al Milgrom , Todd Smith
Nonfiction Graphic Novel Series
For ages 7 to 10
Capstone Press, 2006 ISBN: 978-0736864886
Steve Wozniak was always fascinated by machines and computers. In the late 1960’s when he was still in high school computers were enormous and cost “as much as a house” but “Woz” was determined that he would one day build a machine of his own. Woz left college after a year and went to work for a computer company. In his spare time he worked on building a computer with a friend. It was during this time that he met and became friends with Steve Jobs. Though the two friends had jobs, they kept in touch to work on designing video games and to talk about their computer ideas.
In the mid 1970’s Woz began to seriously build a computer circuit board using microprocessors. He hoped to build a powerful circuit board which could be used in a computer that would be small enough to sit on a desk and which would have a keyboard instead of switches. He succeeded and he and Jobs decided to form a company which they named Apple. In the beginning they had a hard time finding the money to get the parts to build their circuit boards and to pay for development but after they got a backer, Apple took off and the company changed the way computers were built from that time on.
Young readers who have an interest in computers and how they work will be fascinated to learn the history of the personal computer. It is hard to imagine that these complex machines had some of their beginnings in a garage in California and yet that is indeed how it happened. With its graphic novel format and its engaging text, this title is perfect for readers who like to learn about people and their achievements.
This is one of the many titles in the Graphic Library series.
