Secret Coders

Title: Secret Coders

Bibliographic information:

Author: Gene Luen Yang

Illustrator: Mike Holmes

• Series: Secret Coders (Book 1)
• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: First Second (September 29, 2015)
• Language: English

Reader's Annotation:

Stately Academy isn’t an ordinary school - it’s full of strange things and mysteries to be solved. Fortunately, Hopper and Eni know enough about computer programing so they can try to solve the mystery.

Interest Level: Ages 6-12

Lexile level: 380

Awards, if applicable: Not Applicable

Plot summary: Hopper (named after early programmer Grace Hopper) is a 12 year old girl having a pretty lousy day.  Her mother moved her to a new town, and her new school, Stately Academy, looks like a haunted house, and there are four-eyed birds flying around.  On her first day, she got into a fight with a boy in her class, Eni over “lung pudding.” Fortunately, it gets better; Hopper and Eni bond over binary coding, and even make peace with the jerk Josh.  And they quickly begin to decode the school’s mysteries through their understanding of computer science.  

Critical review:  The character development in this book has a wonderful depth. The main characters are a diverse cast, albeit all a bit nerdy.  Rather than fall prey to racial or  geek-stereotypes, all of the characters are well rounded with unique personalities.  Their ongoing trials leads to a story which is emotionally rich, in addition to being educational.

Why include it?

This book is wonderful for readers who identify as “math/science/computer geeks”, mystery readers and anyone who’s ever wanted to build a robot.  It is an excellent introduction to binary mathematics (the basis of computer programing) and program logic.  It’s also a whole lot of fun!  While School Library Journal identifies this as an 8-12 book, I’ve found that it is incredibly popular starting with first grade readers.