The Friendship Code #1

June 15, 2017
A computer coding club brings together a diverse group of girls to solve a mystery. African-American Lucy is thrilled to finally be a sixth grader and able to join the coding club--she needs to learn to code as quickly as possible, as her goal is to create an app to help her cancer-stricken uncle keep on top of all of his medicines. But things don't go as expected, and Lucy finds herself working with her former friend, Latina Sophia, intimidating Asian fashionista Maya, and new white kid Erin, and instead of using computers they're making...sandwiches? Although it's a valid exercise in computer-instruction logic, Lucy wants to accelerate, and she gets a chance through a mysterious note that, in code syntax, offers a deal: if Lucy follows all instructions from this and subsequent notes, she'll learn to code. The notes guide her through exercises that illustrate fundamental coding principles in enjoyable ways and also bring her closer to her coding teammates, gaining understanding of and comradery with Maya and Erin as well as repairing the misunderstanding that ended her friendship with Sophia. But what really gets them working together is figuring out who is sending the notes--a mystery they devise a simple computer program to solve. The computer elements serve the story rather than the other way around, resulting in a substantive, amusing tale. Between the integrated logic and the consciously diverse cast, a wonderful series launch. (Fiction. 8-12)

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June 1, 2017

Gr 3-6-This fresh series starter from seasoned author Deutsch centers on a group of middle school friends who are learning the basics of computer code. Lucy is finally a sixth grader, which means that she can finally join Coding Club. She wants to figure out how to code so that she can make an app to help her sick uncle keep track of his medication. Unfortunately, the club members don't even get to use the computers during the first meeting! Plus, Lucy is put on a team with a former friend; an intimidating, sophisticated seventh grader; and the new girl who came into Coding Club sobbing. Over the course of a week, Lucy and her teammates are led on a mystery code-based scavenger hunt. Following the directions that are left in an envelope attached to her locker, Lucy relies on each of her teammates to help her decipher the messages, each of which teaches them the very basic elements of coding. Readers will appreciate the characters' diversity of interests and their love of coding. VERDICT A complex topic made accessible; recommended for elementary and middle school libraries and for collections that serve budding coders.-Kristin Unruh, Siersma Elementary School, Warren, MI

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 27, 2017
In this sweet and informative tale, Lucy joins the middle school coding club and is assigned to a group with three other girls she barely knows. The girls work together and form a bond of friendship while deciphering coded messages and, in the process, learning about inputs and outputs and how to create conditional, looping, and variable clauses. Classically trained voice artist Johnson expertly creates authentic and consistent voices for Sophia, Maya, and Erin, as well as Lucy’s older brother and the girls’ caring and knowledgeable teacher. Though it becomes a bit tedious and pulls the listener away from the story line, Johnson accurately reads all four coded messages with each open and closed parentheses, underscore, curly bracket, and semicolon. This audiobook, first in a series, succeeds in presenting a story that will encourage young children to become interested in computer programming. Ages 8–12. A Penguin Workbook hardcover.

January 1, 2018
These first two novels rise above the series' explicit, potentially heavy-handed goals of female empowerment, inclusivity, and representation, telling interesting stories with appealing characters. �cf2]Friendship�cf1] introduces coding and espouses collaboration and communication as Lucy and her new coding club friends solve coded clues with real-life applications; �cf2]Race�cf1] finds club member Sophia using problem-solving in their robotics competition and her family life.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)