This picture book shows how wonderful technology is in young people’s lives. Sonia, her family, and others demonstrate using devices to connect to each other and the world around them. It starts with a common occurrence when family is far away and Sonia uses a device to video chat with them. The book shows collaboration with others, both in her own school as well as with others in South Africa. My favorite parts revolve around using technology to research the unknown, like identifying a bug outside.

The end of the book includes discussion questions, list of the International Society for Technology in Education standards for digital learning, and tips for engaging in a meaningful way with technology. I love this one for an elementary school classroom resource.

Sonia Uses Technology for Communication, Collaboration, and Learning

Sonia is a very tech-savvy young lady.

She uses technology (cell phone and camera) to stay in touch with friends and family. Her grandparents are far away but watch a school play on their laptop computer.

Sonia learns how to share new things she is learning by collaborating with other students on her tablet.

Sonia's teacher connects with classrooms across the world with technology.

Sonia can look up information on the Internet and find answers to millions of questions.

Sonia learns how to use technology to help others in her community and the world.

The book ends with five questions that focus on the main ideas presented in the story.

My Thoughts

Most school-age children have an abundance of experience using technology for entertainment. They have watched videos and played games for many years.

This book emphasizes the use of technology for bringing people together and increasing knowledge. The author defines collaboration in a kid-friendly way...."We can put our minds together."

The book contains very diverse characters. There are children of different races and nationalities. There is a boy in a wheelchair and several children wearing glasses. There is also generational diversity with children, parents, and grandparents participating in the story.

The story takes place in many different settings where technology is used. The color illustrations are excellent and add value to the story. If you take a close look at the pictures you will see examples of technology that are not mentioned in the text...cell phone tower, a drone, and an Internet dish on a building.

The questions at the end of the story are excellent for discussion. There is also a chart that displays the ISTE Standards.

I think this book provides a wonderful learning experience for young children. It combines learning and fun...a great combination!

RATING: 5 Stars Out of 5

The illustration was stunning and the storyline helped explain to young kids the value of technology in today’s world.

I wanted to read this because I have been working with older toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary kids. With the widespread access to technology, mainly because of covid, teachers and parents have been trying to find good ways to teach kids about technology. I think this picture book was very creative and interactive in how kids can use technology positively and safely. I loved the illustrations, and they were very catchy and diverse, and I will be suggesting this book to parents and to be read in school.

I wish the book had included safety while utilizing technology, but that's definitely something we, as teachers and caregivers, can have conversations with our kids about as we incorporate some of the questions provided at the end.

I am a Pre-K teacher. And we are receiving more and more technology. We have tablets, and now laptops. This is a great book that can be a great way to teach my little ones about technology. I loved the different examples of technology in the book. The illustrations were nice too. And I loved that at the end of the book it included higher order thinking questions. That's something that we look for in schools.

This book does a good job of connecting communication methods child may already witness while always providing more positive examples. It's a nice book for young children to grasp the category of digital communication and give them inspiration to expand upon their current practices.

A very cute way of explaining to children the positive sides of using technology nowadays and all the ways it can benefit us. I do have the feeling though that there could have been a little more talk about the negative side effects to show that there should be a healthy balance between “technology life” and „real life“.

Three Stars for the Story because it just didn’t seem rounded and I would’ve liked a little more explanation for the kids to know that you shouldn’t be hooked to technology all day long.

Five stars for the illustrations. I really loved the style and enjoyed looking at the pictures.

The premise of this book is interesting and reflects how ubiquitous digital communication is in our world today.
While a page towards the end does emphasize there is a need for a healthy balance between technology use and non-tech use, I think this could have been integrated into the story itself. We don't need to live every moment of our lives with technology having a strong presence or even a driving force. Sometimes, instead of taking the photo or video, it's just better to be present and in the moment. I think the story could have done a better job of finding the balance between tech use and non-tech use.

I would hope that parents reading this book to their kids will add that healthy balance approach in the story, or talk about it afterwards.

One concern I had with the book is that it centres around a Black family but both the author and the illustrator are white presenting in their pictures on the final page of the eARC. Why not have a Black author and a Black illustrator?