The best-selling author of the Baby Loves Science series levels up with this playful STEM picture book introducing kids–and grown-ups–to the coding world. Grown-ups do NOT have all the answers! In this tongue-in-cheek guide, an in-the-know narrator instructs perceptive kid readers in the fine art of explaining coding to a grown-up. Both children and their adults learn the basics of coding, including hardware, software, algorithms, and debugging. Cleverly disguised “pro tips” suggest best practices for teaching any topic. Fun and fact-filled, the How to Explain Science series will empower kid experts to explore complex scientific concepts with any grown-up who will listen.
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Thank you, Ruth Spiro, Charlesbridge, and NetGalley for the digital copy. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
If the kid is smart enough, they will read in-between the lines and learn to hack Intelligence agencies and participate in covert operations.
If not, I suspect they become Lord of the playground, with the swing serving as their throne.
All-in-all, a fun little gift for a second grade kid with science on their mind. I imagine this, along with the other entries in the series explaining STEM for kids would serve as a launching pad to explore the field given ChatGPT is but a click away. Querying the words ‘algorithm' and ‘loop' will be more than enough to be introduced to hours of material, falling down a rabbit hole of hard facts instead of using their parent's credit card to spend thousands in a pay-to-win mobile game.
The illustrations were fun. With roles inverted, it is the child teaching the adult the fantastical operations of a computer and how ‘code' is a method of conversing with it.
Given the age category the book was tailored for and the goal of the author, it would be anything but unproductive to have a child running around with this book, re-reading it and in 20 years, dusting it off to have it read to his child.
