I think this is a fun and interesting way to get kids acquainted with coding and thinking about what they can do. The illustrations are cute, and I would definitely recommend this to friends with kids.

My feelings about this one are all over the place. A good premise, weak writing, and passable illustrations combine to make a book that I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable recommending... even though the overall message is fine.

Luci is paired up with her friends to find a robot that their teacher has hidden somewhere in the school. They follow clues--learning about three different coding concepts along the way--until they reach their goal.

A trend I've noticed in self-published picture books lately is a tendency to italicize dialogue. This book does that... but only with the speech that's not spoken by the main character. There are grammar and punctuation issues throughout, and the writing really could have used some more speech tags.

As for the story, it's kind of unrealistic, and a bit confusing in places. There's a sort of jump after Luci and her friends find the third clue, and suddenly they're in the science lab. We don't know what the clue was that sent them there (I'm guessing it was the room number, but the text doesn't really say). This is a bit disappointing, because the puzzle is such a big part of the story; it's a shame it ended up glossed over. The ending is also kind of ridiculous, with the kids each receiving their very own robot to program. Luci plans on using hers to basically act as a service dog for her blind grandmother. I don't know if technology is there yet... but I'm fairly certain it wouldn't be found in a cheap robot won as a prize!

That said, I do like the coding aspect. Three concepts--algorithms, loops, and conditionals--are explained clearly through the narrative in an easy-to-understand way. So that's probably the strongest part of the book.

Overall, this is a book with a good premise that could use some work on the technical side, ironically enough. If the writing were cleaned up and made clearer (and the puzzle solution explained), this could be a good book for getting kids interested in learning how to code. I would, however, be sure to explain to kids that they shouldn't expect to be able to program a robot to act as a service animal.

What a great book to introduce kids to coding! STEM and computer science are such hot topics right now. And since our society is only going to grow more in this area I think it is great to have books geared toward young readers discussing these concepts. Plus I like that is also teaches about hardwork and determination. Cute illustrations!

This book was super cute. I loved the illustrations and the engaging storyline. It was insightful, quick, educational and kept me so engaged. I highly recommend this for all kids. Not just coding or science or math fans. It was cute and very educational as well.