It doesn't take long for Emmy and Abigail to become good friends, nor does it take long for Emmy to connect with computer coding, and teacher Frankie Delaney, a vibrant young woman who clearly loves what she does. Abigail has a beautiful singing voice, has been singing in the San Francisco Children's Choir for years and hangs out friends with a group of girls at school who want her to audition with them for a singing group called Honey Bees. But Abigail has been hiding the fact that she would rather code than sing, though she continues to act like being put into the computer class was a mistake. Emmy, hoping that Abigail will be her new best friend, is hurt when Abigail continues to eat lunch with her friends, leaving Emmy to eat alone.
Meanwhile, struggling with constant feelings of not fitting in and not being comfortable with who she is, Emmy must also deal with a budding misogynist bully named Francis in computer class, who misses no opportunity to let her know he thinks she is inferior and that there is no place in coding for girls. Adding to that is a falling out with Abigail, who refuses to respond to Emmy's apologies.
But after the class learns that their teacher is seriously ill, can animosities are put aside so that the students can still showcase their end of term coding projects in front of parents, teachers, and students to honor their teacher?
When I first began reading Emmy in the Key of Code, I thought I would be reading a novel about a middle grader girl who needs to find herself and her own voice in a completely new environment. Boy, was I wrong! Well, it is that, but more, so much more. It is a novel in verse, written from Emmy's point of view. And as Emmy becomes more proficient at coding, Lucido manages to skillfully weave in some basic Java code in places, creating a kind of poetry in code. Not an easy task, but she pulls it off beautifully. And the best part is that readers don't need to know coding to read Emmy's story, but do learn some coding along with her. Java terminology is explained within the text and in a glossary, as are musical terms.
One of the things I really liked is that Lucido didn't give Emmy a dead parent or two in her coming of age story. Instead, she took Emmy out of her comfortable environment in Wisconsin and set down in a completely new place, where her parents are so busy with their own problems of adjusting to the changes. Isolated from parents, friends, and teachers really highlights Emmy's feeling of not fitting in, but allows her to explore and discover her own identity and creativity away from parental interference or expectations of who she should be. It made for a very interesting journey.
Young readers will also discover not only a good story but might even catch some of Frankie Delaney's enthusiasm for coding and her admiration for the women who were pioneered computers and programming during WWII while men were off fighting (pg. 154-55). In fact, pair this with Kate Hannigan's fun speculative fiction novel Cape (The League of Secret Heroes), which centers around the actual six women working on a programable computer called Eniac in Philadelphia in WWII.
I loved being pleasantly surprised by this novel and Emmy in the Key of Code should appeal to young readers whether or not they have an interest in learning to code, though the computer geek in me thinks all kids should learn some coding. Maybe this will stir up interest in it when they see what Emmy and her class can do.
A Reader's Guide can be downloaded HERE
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was gratefully provided to me by the publisher, Versify, an imprint of HMH
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