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How to Explain Coding to a Grown-Up

Author Ruth Spiro
Illustrated by Teresa Martínez
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Hardcover
$17.99 US
8.44"W x 10.25"H x 0.39"D   (21.4 x 26.0 x 1.0 cm) | 14 oz (403 g) | 32 per carton
On sale Oct 10, 2023 | 32 Pages | 9781623543181
Age 4-8 years | Preschool - 3
Reading Level: Lexile AD570L | Fountas & Pinnell O
Sales rights: World
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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.
  • SELECTION | 2024
    Illinois Reads
  • HONOR | 2024
    Mathical Book Prize
  • SELECTION | 2023
    NPR Best Science Books for Kids
Grown-ups may not be the only audience for this simple explanation of how algorithms work.

Taking a confused-looking hipster parent firmly in hand, a child first points to all the computers around the house (“Pro Tip: When dealing with grown-ups, don’t jump into the complicated stuff too fast. Start with something they already know”). Next, the child leads the adult outside to make and follow step-by-step directions for getting to the park, deciding which playground equipment to use, and finally walking home. Along the way, concepts like conditionals and variables come into play in street maps and diagrams, and a literal bug stands in for the sort that programmers will inevitably need to find and solve. The lesson culminates in an actual sample of very simple code with labels that unpack each instruction…plus a pop quiz to lay out a decision tree for crossing the street, because if “your grown-up can explain it, that shows they understand it!” That goes for kids, too—and though Spiro doesn’t take the logical next step and furnish leads to actual manuals, young (and not so young) fledgling coders will find plenty of good ones around, such as Get Coding! (2017), published by Candlewick, or Rachel Ziter’s Coding From Scratch (2018).

A lighthearted first look at an increasingly useful skill. (glossary) 

—Kirkus Reviews
Ruth Spiro is an award-winning children's book author and freelance writer whose articles, essays, and stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies. Her debut picture book, Lester Fizz, Bubble-Gum Artist (Dutton), won awards from Writer's Digest and Willamette Writers and was a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year. View titles by Ruth Spiro
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About

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.

Awards

  • SELECTION | 2024
    Illinois Reads
  • HONOR | 2024
    Mathical Book Prize
  • SELECTION | 2023
    NPR Best Science Books for Kids

Praise

Grown-ups may not be the only audience for this simple explanation of how algorithms work.

Taking a confused-looking hipster parent firmly in hand, a child first points to all the computers around the house (“Pro Tip: When dealing with grown-ups, don’t jump into the complicated stuff too fast. Start with something they already know”). Next, the child leads the adult outside to make and follow step-by-step directions for getting to the park, deciding which playground equipment to use, and finally walking home. Along the way, concepts like conditionals and variables come into play in street maps and diagrams, and a literal bug stands in for the sort that programmers will inevitably need to find and solve. The lesson culminates in an actual sample of very simple code with labels that unpack each instruction…plus a pop quiz to lay out a decision tree for crossing the street, because if “your grown-up can explain it, that shows they understand it!” That goes for kids, too—and though Spiro doesn’t take the logical next step and furnish leads to actual manuals, young (and not so young) fledgling coders will find plenty of good ones around, such as Get Coding! (2017), published by Candlewick, or Rachel Ziter’s Coding From Scratch (2018).

A lighthearted first look at an increasingly useful skill. (glossary) 

—Kirkus Reviews

Author

Ruth Spiro is an award-winning children's book author and freelance writer whose articles, essays, and stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies. Her debut picture book, Lester Fizz, Bubble-Gum Artist (Dutton), won awards from Writer's Digest and Willamette Writers and was a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year. View titles by Ruth Spiro

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Available for sale exclusive:
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•     Aland Islands
•     Albania
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•     Andorra
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•     Anguilla
•     Antarctica
•     Antigua/Barbuda
•     Argentina
•     Armenia
•     Aruba
•     Australia
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•     Bahrain
•     Bangladesh
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•     Cape Verde
•     Cayman Islands
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•     Chad
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•     China
•     Christmas Islnd
•     Cocos Islands
•     Colombia
•     Comoro Is.
•     Congo
•     Cook Islands
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•     Monaco
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•     Mozambique
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•     Namibia
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•     Netherlands
•     New Caledonia
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•     Niger
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•     Norfolk Island
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•     Norway
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•     Svalbard
•     Swaziland
•     Sweden
•     Switzerland
•     Syria
•     Tadschikistan
•     Taiwan
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•     Thailand
•     Timor-Leste
•     Togo
•     Tokelau Islands
•     Tonga
•     Trinidad,Tobago
•     Tunisia
•     Turkey
•     Turkmenistan
•     Turks&Caicos Is
•     Tuvalu
•     US Virgin Is.
•     USA
•     Uganda
•     Ukraine
•     Unit.Arab Emir.
•     United Kingdom
•     Uruguay
•     Uzbekistan
•     Vanuatu
•     Vatican City
•     Venezuela
•     Vietnam
•     Wallis,Futuna
•     West Saharan
•     Western Samoa
•     Yemen
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