The narrator of the story is Hopper Gracie-Hu, a seventh grader. Hopper moves with her mom to a new town and has to start the year at a new school, Stately Academy. She doesn't want to be there and her first day doesn't start off well. But at lunchtime she notices something odd about the birds in the courtyard and another student sees the same thing. That is the beginning of her friendship with Eni. Together they try to find out what secrets the academy is hiding. There are plenty of things odd about the school: it looks like a haunted house, the janitor's shed is padlocked shut, the janitor chases kids away from the shed like it is the Pentagon, the principal is meeting with a creepy looking guy who is offering him some kind of deal, and did I mention those odd birds? This is a book that combines some of the coolest things there are - secrets, robots, coding, and cool friends. Folks with a bit of programming in their background might notice the similarity between the name of our narrator and Grace Hopper (if you don't know who Grace is, you can look her up). And we are left with a cliffhanger to keep us waiting for the next book, Paths and Portals. Fans of Gene Luen Yang will be happy to have a new series and those who aren't fans before Secret Coders will be converted once they read it. A fun read and cool introduction to coding, programming, and binary language. Perfect for middle grade readers who enjoy graphic novels, math, puzzles, or coding. I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley. For more information about the author, visit his website. And you can also visit the site for the book to find out more info as the books are released and even subscribe to Gene's email list for updates.
** Great interview with Gene Luen Yang about comics and coding: http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2015/10/22/cracking-the-comics-code.
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