GIRL CODE REVOLUTION

A combination collective biography of women in computer science and JavaScript workbook.

After opening on an upbeat note, highlighting women’s historical roles in software development, the book then falls back on the dated trope of hammering in that these women were bucking sexism (“They loved what they did, and they did it well, disproving stereotypes that women were not suited for careers in STEM”), a defensive stance that won’t resonate with modern girls, who find a world of STEM toys catered just for them. Alternating double-page spreads offer profiles of female computer science pioneers, from such standards as Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper to influential scientists of color, like Annie Easley, Tracy Chou, and Lyndsey Scott—though some readers might not be impressed that her billing of “Top Model and App Developer” places beauty before brains. These are interleaved with JavaScript projects on manipulating images and videos, using a tie-in website hosted by Vidcode, a women-founded coding curriculum. The text’s instructions are often vague, with poorly defined terms—readers must use it while on the website. Unfortunately, the website also offers instructions that frequently don’t align with the book and miscalculates a beginner’s background knowledge. The result is needlessly fussy and likely to push kids to rely heavily on copy-and-paste or transcribing the book’s example code—if they don’t just give up.

Despite valuable profiles of individuals, more an exercise in frustration than coding.