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A review by nicolemhewitt
The Friendship Code by Reshma Saujani, Stacia Deutsch, Sisi A. Johnson
4.0
This review and many more can be found on my blog: Feed Your Fiction Addiction
This first book in the series introduces us to Lucy, who is super excited to start the coding club at her school. Lucy wants to learn to code for a very personal reason—she wants to create an app that will help her uncle, who has cancer. But she finds that learning to code isn’t nearly as simple as she thought and she gets frustrated when coding club moves way too slow for her. When she starts to receive mysterious notes with cryptic instructions that insist they will help her learn to code, she’s hesitant at first. But she soon discovers that following the mystery is fun and she just might be learning more along the way than she thought.
This was a great introduction to the series and to all of the girls in coding club. The book explores dynamics between middle school girls in a fun and interesting way. First off, there’s Lucy, who is enthusiastic about coding and really wants to use it to help people. Then there’s her sporty ex-best friend Sophia. Lucy is less than thrilled to be paired with Sophia—things are awkward between them since they drifted apart a year earlier. Maya is cool and fashionable, and Lucy is intimidated by her. And then there’s Erin, the new girl who seems quiet and maybe a little sad.
All of the girls have their own reasons for joining the coding club, and they all end up helping Lucy in her quest to solve the mysteries of the strange clue-filled envelopes that Lucy receives. These books are cute middle grade reads. They’re written relatively simplistically, so some advanced middle-grade readers might think they feel too “young” for them, but my 13-year-old actually likes to read some books that are a little simpler and lighter now and again, so this book was perfect for her. She’s eager to read the second book (she didn’t have time to get to it before this review went up). Both she and I figured out early on who was sending the notes to Lucy, but it was still fun to see where they would lead and how each note related to something having to do with coding (even though they didn’t seem to at first). I felt like the book was a great introduction to some coding concepts, but it didn’t feel too technical. My daughter isn’t all that interested in coding, unfortunately, but she really enjoyed this book anyway, and maybe it will spark a new interest in her!
I give the book 4/5 Stars.
This first book in the series introduces us to Lucy, who is super excited to start the coding club at her school. Lucy wants to learn to code for a very personal reason—she wants to create an app that will help her uncle, who has cancer. But she finds that learning to code isn’t nearly as simple as she thought and she gets frustrated when coding club moves way too slow for her. When she starts to receive mysterious notes with cryptic instructions that insist they will help her learn to code, she’s hesitant at first. But she soon discovers that following the mystery is fun and she just might be learning more along the way than she thought.
This was a great introduction to the series and to all of the girls in coding club. The book explores dynamics between middle school girls in a fun and interesting way. First off, there’s Lucy, who is enthusiastic about coding and really wants to use it to help people. Then there’s her sporty ex-best friend Sophia. Lucy is less than thrilled to be paired with Sophia—things are awkward between them since they drifted apart a year earlier. Maya is cool and fashionable, and Lucy is intimidated by her. And then there’s Erin, the new girl who seems quiet and maybe a little sad.
All of the girls have their own reasons for joining the coding club, and they all end up helping Lucy in her quest to solve the mysteries of the strange clue-filled envelopes that Lucy receives. These books are cute middle grade reads. They’re written relatively simplistically, so some advanced middle-grade readers might think they feel too “young” for them, but my 13-year-old actually likes to read some books that are a little simpler and lighter now and again, so this book was perfect for her. She’s eager to read the second book (she didn’t have time to get to it before this review went up). Both she and I figured out early on who was sending the notes to Lucy, but it was still fun to see where they would lead and how each note related to something having to do with coding (even though they didn’t seem to at first). I felt like the book was a great introduction to some coding concepts, but it didn’t feel too technical. My daughter isn’t all that interested in coding, unfortunately, but she really enjoyed this book anyway, and maybe it will spark a new interest in her!
I give the book 4/5 Stars.