Code Your Own Adventure

I have been having my children summer read these books! So far they have loved everyone one of them. I t is nice to see them read outside their usual comfort zone!

I am a software developer myself and I always think it's a great idea to introduce development in a younger age. Some people are talented in software development - yes, it's also hard work but some people definitely has talent and brains for it!- so fab to discover this tendency in a young age.

The book follows Scratch, an algorithm -teaching programming language for kids, of course not like the normal programming languages but more of a playful learning thing. You can actually have a go online at the website. It's free. https://scratch.mit.edu/

It has tutorials and examples to follow, clear instructions, awesome illustrations. So if you're looking to a kick start introduction of algorithms for your child, there you go, an excellent book to have!

I loved this. It reminded me of one of my favourite gifts as a child; a ‘how to knit’ interactive story. By encorporating storytelling into the adventure, you ensure full engagement.
Will be letting all my IT teachers know about this gem.

This book is a good introduction to MIT's scratch (https://scratch.mit.edu/).
I am not sure what the target age for this book is but I'd guess that it is 10 or older (this is way over my 6 year old's interest/attention level).

There isn't much story here; there's just enough to guide the plentiful activities.
This surprised me and is one reason why my daughter isn't interested now.
The illustrations were great/plentiful and should help draw children in.

Scratch is a wonderful tool for kids to learn how to code, but this book takes it to another level. Instead of simple providing instructions on how to use Scratch, kids will become engrossed in the story. Whether they decide to go on an adventure with a pirate or a knight, kids will learn the basics of how to use Scratch in an engaging way. This book is a great starting point for teachers or librarians looking to teach the basics of Scratch.

Readers of CODE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE will have a blast learning basic coding as they look for hidden treasure, search for the Lost City of Gold, and discover the Book of Spells. Highly recommended as a fun, effective intro to coding language.

Grateful to the Quarto Publishing Group - QEB and NetGalley for the early copy, in exchange for my true review.

#CodeYourOwnAdventure #NetGalley

Who would have think that coding may be so easy and using a basic language - Scratch, that can be downloaded for free - you can easily create your own games. Sounds fantastic for me and I bet I am not necessarily the target of this book. Recommended to active children with a passion for computers - both in school or home schooled - this book offers step-by-step inspiration to set up your own characters, background and course of action for a computer game. The language is easy and there are tons of directions for setting up your own online creation.
PS. I would actually give a try to it as well, just because coding can be so easy and smart.

Colorful, engaging, and informative - Code Your Own Adventure provides step-by-step instructions in a comic-book format for kids to code their own game using Scratch. Kids will learn how to draw characters and shapes, animate plot lines, and create games all while learning how to code. A fun way to gain useful knowledge and coding skills!

For older children who are interesting in coding this is an interesting how to guide. It was a little hard to see how things would work because I would rather have a print book to flip through if I also needed a computer to do the activities.

If you have kids interested in learning to code, this is the book for you! I read through it and realized that it could even teach me what I needed to get a basic start in coding. I am excited to use this book with my kids this fall. and e homeschool, so they will be learning some basic coding methods.

Great read, informative, and super easy to follow! Get ready for some hands on fun!!

As long as the reader has a basic understanding of Scratch this is a perfect book for them. The illustrations and steps are fantastic. You'll fins many creative ideas inside with wonderful step-by-step instructions to help create your very own adventure by coding. It is great and so fun! We enjoyed trying the ideas.

My Thoughts:
Code Your Own Adventure: A fun book to introduce kids (and even adults!) to STEM, animation, and showing coding can be fun!

What I loved:
Having an engineering background myself, I always appreciate books that can instill an interest in STEM. Books like these are a fun approach to STEM using storybuilding and clear step-by-step instructions to work on coding. This also gives young readers an insight into how animated (and even regular ones with CGI) movies and video games are made. I love that this book includes diverse characters and adventures across diverse locales. The illustrations are bright and eye-catching. The resource needed for learning and working on the coding adventures in this book is free and available from MIT – Scratch.

I have to mention here that I worked on all the coding exercises in the book, and had a blast doing them! While some of the instructions followed somehow ended up a bit off for me, it was still a learning experience and I made tweaks at that point to see what would correct it or simply to see what else can happen 🙂 So with kids working on the projects here, if things don’t seem to work exactly the way they say, just have the kids tweak it and they will have fun!

On the other hand:
I felt that it could use just a bit more of a story-line to make it even more fun for the target audience. And while this is a more specific issue, the story-line in the first story here was a bit confusing and I found myself lost after a bit so I ended up focusing on the coding part of it. Two more additions that I feel are needed to help a more general, non-coding-background audience (as might be for the target audience) – a glossary that helps the reader understand more of what is in the book, and a helpful index of what is beyond.

One additional note – there are more books in this series that you can check out!

So Should You Read This Book?
This is a worth-it addition to instill the love for coding and showing it can be fun.

Rating: B
Reading Level: 9 – 12 years (and other age groups too who are interested in learning and new to Scratch)
Reread Level: As needed

Disclaimer: This review is for an eARC of this ebook from Quarto Publishing Group-QEB and NetGalley. Opinions are fully mine.

Coding is such an important skill for our younger set to learn. Books like this make learning some of the basic concepts fun.