Gr. PreK - 2 This is the first picture book in the Girls Who Code collection and features a foreword by founder Reshma Saujani. Pearl’s attempts to build a sandcastle have met with one disaster after another, but she tries again using code and some help from her robot Pascal. Employing loops, if-then-else conditions, and sequences, can the pair succeed? Josh Funk includes tongue-in-cheek computer references including the names of Pearl and Pascal, which also are names of programming languages. Illustrator Sara Palacios joins in the fun depicting loops with the words wrapping around a swim float or following the course of a moat around the sandcastle. This creative pair have taken a common childhood problem and used it to explain how coding works. They show everything from breaking a problem into smaller pieces to building on existing code. “Pearl and Pascal’s Guide to Coding” follows the story and explains the programming terms in more detail. Readers will enjoy the story even if they have never worked with code before and may find themselves curious about other uses for coding. A good addition to school libraries and computer labs. VERDICT: An excellent age-appropriate introduction to the world of coding. Highly recommended.
This review was originally printed on p.116 of the May 2018 issue of School Library Journal.
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