Girls Who Code

Read this book!

There is so much to love here. The very real personal story of the founder, the examples of great achievements in the past, the short and relatable but real history lessons, the playful introductions to different applications of code. The target audience is middle to high school age girls - I'm not sure they will pick it up unless they are already interested in coding...hiding like it does with the Dewey Decimal System over there by all the other learn to code books. Adults may need to make this book visible and accessible to the kids who most benefit from it - kids who do not think they are good at math or science.

The book invites readers to continue with an interactive book online (at a simple url) and a fiction series. Code newbies who don't understand what the instructors are saying in those bootcamps or youtube videos can pick up the basics in this book - everything from wire framing to D.R.Y. to algorithms.

The ONLY thing that frustrates me about this book is that it is so very overtly for girls - not that it is bad to reach out to this group but because the concepts and true girl power history could be useful for boys and adults, too.

I will keep recommending this book. It is fantastic. If you are interested in code, read it for an easy introduction. If you are already knocking out projects or an active programmer, read it to have a way to talk to other people who are curious about coding.