Hello Ruby: Adventures in Coding - Hardcover

Liukas, Linda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1250065003 ISBN 13: 9781250065001

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends, 2015

Synopsis

"Hello Ruby is half picture book and half activity book rolled into one adorable package. It introduces programming without requiring a computer at all. The point of the book isn’t to teach you a programming language, but programming concepts." --GeekMom.com

Meet Ruby―a small girl with a huge imagination, and the determination to solve any puzzle. As Ruby stomps around her world making new friends, including the Wise Snow Leopard, the Friendly Foxes, and the Messy Robots, kids will be introduced to the fundamentals of computational thinking, like how to break big problems into small ones, create step-by-step plans, look for patterns and think outside the box through storytelling. Then, these basic concepts at the core of coding and programming will be reinforced through fun playful exercises and activities that encourage exploration and creativity.

In Ruby's world anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

About this title

About the Author

Linda Liukas is a programmer, storyteller, and illustrator from Helsinki, Finland. The idea for Hello Ruby first made its debut on Kickstarter and quickly smashed its $10,000 funding goal in just three and a half hours gathering $380,000 in total to become Kickstarter's most funded children's book.

Linda is a central figure in the world of programming and worked on edutech before it was even called that. Linda is the founder of Rails Girls, a global phenomenon teaching the basics of programming to young women all over the world. The workshops, organized by volunteers in over 160 cities, have in a few years taught more than 10,000 women the foundations of programming.

Linda has studied in business, design, and engineering at Aalto University and product engineering at Stanford University. She was selected as the 2013 Ruby Hero (the most notable prize within the Ruby programming community) and she's the Digital Champion of Finland, appointed by EU commissioner Neelie Kroes. She lives in Helsinki, Finland.

Reviews

Gr 1–4—Bubbly redhead Ruby takes readers on a journey through an imaginary world replete with talking penguins, snow leopards, robots, and foxes who unwittingly teach her basic coding concepts. When Ruby's father travels out of town, he leaves her with a challenge: to find five gems. Armed with four scraps of paper, she uses her analytic skills to draw a map of the imaginary world where the gems are hidden, and children follow Ruby as she looks for them. The hunt for each gem involves a loose tie-in to a host of coding concepts, such as sequencing, patterns, loops, and pattern recognition. Notably, though, none of these terms are used in the actual text of the story; instead they are discussed at length in the post-story "Activity Book" section. Colorful and cheerful illustrations offer enticing Easter egg clues to observant readers throughout are in both the story and the "Activity Book." The visuals also serve to pick up the slack left by the somewhat didactic text. The "Activity Book" furthers the learning of conceptual coding ideas but requires patience and concentration that the intended audience may not yet possess. Kids will not necessarily walk away knowing how to write code but may possibly grasp some of the basic concepts. VERDICT This whimsical coding story could be a great resource for mathematical-minded youngsters but might soar over the heads of those less math-inclined.—Amy M. Laughlin, Darien Library, CT

Edition details

• Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1250065003
• ISBN 13: 9781250065001
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 112