A thoroughly inviting primer on coding for little children just encountering the world of computers.
Chiou’s chapter book, brightly illustrated by Song and López, aims to make the basic concepts of computer operation and coding understandable to children.
Kids are instantly fascinated with interactive technology without, of course, having any idea how it works. Here, Chiou (Robot Train's Surprise Birthday Party, 2017) teaches children about the basic sequential logic of using structured requests to get predictable outcomes, in this case “programming” their grown-ups to do simple things like patting them on the head. In a following section, meant for slightly older children, kids are shown clear and playful pictures illustrating the manipulation of images and data on a touch screen. And in the book’s greatest feat (made all the more impressive when you think about how many adults are still in the dark about these same basics despite using them for work and play every day), the final section, illustrated by López, breaks down the ideas and mechanics of computer coding to the simplest conceptual building blocks and makes them fun and universal by linking them to that greatest of all foodstuffs, cookies. The book’s illustrators use large, friendly images and fonts that simulate a child’s first tablet device, and they pair those images with oversized, playful text in order to convey the essentially plastic nature of computer coding: If you understand the fundamentals of how to structure the information that goes into a computer code, you will be able to control what comes out of a computer code. There are a great many free online children’s tutorials covering the same concepts, but this book supplies the carry-it-around tactile element that’s so essential to learning at these young ages—and print books don’t offer endless distractions from their own contents.
A thoroughly inviting primer on coding for little children just encountering the world of computers.Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-692-94400-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: CodeSpeak Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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