Secret Coders (Secret Coders Series #1)

by Gene Luen Yang, Mike Holmes (Illustrator)

Overview

Gene Luen Yang is the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and is a MacArthur Fellow, a recipient of what's popularly known as the MacArthur "Genius" Grant.

Welcome to Stately Academy, a school which is just crawling with mysteries to be solved! The founder of the school left many clues and puzzles to challenge his enterprising students. Using their wits and their growing prowess with coding, Hopper and her friend Eni are going to solve the mystery of Stately Academy no matter what it takes!

From graphic novel superstar (and high school computer programming teacher) Gene Luen Yang comes a wildly entertaining new series that combines logic puzzles and basic programming instruction with a page-turning mystery plot!

This title has Common Core connections.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626720756
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	09/29/2015
Series:	Secret Coders Series , #1
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 5.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Gene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. He was named a National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress in 2016, and advocates for the importance of reading, especially reading diversely. His graphic novel American Born Chinese, a National Book Award finalist and Printz Award winner, was adapted into an original series on Disney+. His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the LA Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award Finalist. His nonfiction graphic novel, Dragon Hoops, received an Eisner award and a Printz honor. His other comics work includes Secret Coders (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), and Superman Smashes the Klan and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series (both with Gurihiru).

Mike Holmes has drawn for the comics series Secret Coders, Bravest Warriors, Adventure Time, and the viral art project Mikenesses. His books include the True Story collection (2011), This American Drive (2009), and Shenanigans. He lives with a cat named Ella, who is his best buddy.

Editorial Reviews

06/15/2015
Twelve-year-old Hopper can’t help but notice that there’s something strange about her new school; the spooky architecture, leafless trees, and robotic birds with too many eyes allude to a mystery hiding just beneath the surface at Stately Academy. Hopper isn’t alone in her suspicion, and she and her new friend Eni resolve to get to the bottom of it. After an eye-opening revelation, they realize that they can use simple programming language to unlock Stately Academy’s secrets. Yang (Boxers & Saints) sneaks coding lessons into the story, imparting the basics of binary numbers and scripting in the form of riddles posed to protagonists and readers. With this knowledge, Hopper and Eni make startling discoveries that put their coding skills to the test, including the operation of a silent, chelonian robot that immediately and precisely obeys its user’s every command. Accented with vivid emerald green, Holmes’s bold cartoony illustrations are a natural fit for Yang’s geeky enthusiasm, and their combined effort offers an enticing first taste of coding that may very well yield some converts. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Judith Hansen, Hansen Literary. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Gene Luen Yang’s talent is prodigious, his enthusiasm contagious....Even this confirmed technophobe was ready to learn coding." —Katherine Applegate, author of Crenshaw and The One and Only Ivan

"Gene Yang brings computer coding to life." —Entertainment Weekly

"Secret Coders not only uses Logo but also touches on computer fundamentals like binary code and the three major ways that code is organized:sequence, iteration, and selection. By the end of Secret Coders, readers will learn them all, right alongside Hopper and Eni, not as something dry or rote, but something transformative." —Wired

"Gene Luen Yang’s talent is prodigious, his enthusiasm contagious....Even this confirmed technophobe was ready to learn coding." —Katherine Applegate, author of Crenshaw and The One and Only Ivan

"Yang and Holmes do such a great job explaining the concepts that even programming newbies will be likely to catch on. A cliff-hanger ending hints at deepening mysteries to come." —Booklist

"Holmes’s bold cartoony illustrations are a natural fit for Yang’s geeky enthusiasm, and their combined effort offers an enticing first taste of coding that may very well yield some converts." —Publishers Weekly

"An excellent first purchase that introduces readers to the power of computer programming through an engaging graphic mystery." —School Library Journal

"Convincing kids that coding “truly is magic” is Yang’s and Holmes’s agenda here, and their series opener certainly does the trick." —The Horn Book

From the Publisher

…[an] ingenious book…The next installment can't come soon enough.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

09/01/2015
Gr 4–8—A mysterious school, transition to mastery, and an exciting new language run through this excellent new graphic novel. But it's not magic wands that dictate the new characters' skills —it's coding. Hopper, an enthusiastic 12-year-old girl (named after programmer Grace Hopper), has just started school at the creepy Stately Academy. After getting in a fight that involves "lung pudding" (a loogie!) with Eni (based on NBA star Chris Bosh), Hopper and Eni become friends while unraveling the secrets of the school. Robotic birds, family troubles, and sinister, child-hating school administrators lead to a story both emotionally rich and rife with learning opportunities. Readers will feel themselves thinking in a new way as they watch Hopper and Eni transform into coders on a mission, but the story never feels pedantic. The graphic novel format is effective and will appeal to everyone from computer lovers to reluctant readers to mystery fans. The black and green art is effective and straightforward, and the pacing of the panels is excellent. The book is important in light of issues of diversity in the computer programming world; Hopper is biracial, and Eni is African American, and both have multiple dimensions to their characters (they are more than just computer nerds). This first volume ends on a cliff-hanger with real life magic: the magic of coding made accessible. VERDICT An excellent first purchase that introduces readers to the power of computer programming through an engaging graphic mystery.—Lisa Nowlain, Darien Library, CT

School Library Journal

2015-05-06
Hopper's first day at Stately Academy goes terribly until her "7"-shaped earrings trigger a code in a robot bird, commanding it to display three eyes. Classmate Eni, whose father is a software engineer, kindly explains the controlling binary code to Hopper. The user-friendly explanation takes advantage of the graphic-novel format, providing a visual alongside the narrative description. The plot makes manipulating binary a game, inviting readers to decode number sequences alongside the characters. When they decode a combination lock on a shed, Hopper and Eni enter it (against the wishes of the villainous, crotchety, old janitor) and uncover its secret content—an adorable robot programmed to clean the sidewalks. This programming too is thoroughly explained visually, then put to an unorthodox application against some kids who bully Hopper. Other villains include an over-the-top creepy visitor to the school making a mysterious demand of the principal and the student-hating principal himself. The school's coded secrets that the protagonists unravel lead to a showdown that goes straight for cliffhanger without a hint of resolution—right when the story feels like it's just getting going. Worse, the abbreviated story leaves little room for characterization other than introducing Hopper's family background as conflict to be addressed in a later installment. Hopper is Asian-American, and Eni appears to be African-American. Despite the frustrating lack of conclusion, the friendly art and nifty concept will leave readers eager for the next book, which should be able to get off to a rocketing start. (Graphic mystery. 8-14)

Kirkus Reviews