Girl Code

Girl Code

YA nonfiction
"If you had told us that one day we would be writing a book about
the time we learned to code, created a menstruation-themed video game,
and then watched as that game went viral overnight and shook up our
lives forever, we would have laughed in your face."
Obviously, since that book is in my hands, Andrea Gonzales and
Sophie Houser won't be laughing in people's faces (at least on that
score) any time soon. Their Girl Code: Gaming, Going Viral, And
Getting It Done couldn't possibly be more timely. Coding is a field
with rapidly increasing potential for well paying, intrinsically
interesting careers. It's still almost all guys. By telling the
story of their experiences, Gonzales and Houser show that it's also a
field with room for ambitious and creative girls and women.
Both girls were high school students when they met up. Sophie
was a quiet girl living with her family on the Upper West Side of
Manhattan. She had a great deal of difficulty with sharing her ideas
with anyone outside of family and close friends. She found class
participation difficult and public speaking torture. Andy was living
with her Phillipines immigrant parents and sisters. Both parents had
grown up very poor and put financial stability first. Andy and her
sisters were urged to work dilligently towards secure careers as
doctors, lawyers, or engineers.
They participated in a seven week Girls Who Code summer
program. It's a program created to address the shortage of girls and
women (especially minorities) in the field. When it came time to
create a final project they ended up working together on a video game
that sought to shatter menstrual tabboos. Apart from the snags and
difficulties in any coding project, each girl faced her own
challenge. For Sophie it would be speaking in front of a large
audience. For Andy it would be uncertainty whether her traditional
parents would accept her working on a taboo topic.
Girl Code, told in their alternating voices, takes readers
through that year and well beyond. Their voices are candid,
thoughtful, intimate, and perceptive. It's the kind of narrative that
could leave today's girls thinking "That looks like fun." or "I can do
that." Oh, yeah, there's a coding appendix to help them get started.
Girl code is a must acquire for public and school libraries and
a wise investment for parents of daughters.
On a personal note, in case you're wondering, I bagged my moose. I
was ready with a cushion to sit on and a book to read when the line
started forming. My moose is very soft and adorable in his little
UMaine shirt. I named him David Tyler after the prof and GA of my
sustainability class because mooses need a sustainable world.
Yesterday I went to a crafting stress reduction event at UMaine. I
made and gave a bunch of Christmas gifts and hung with my friends.
Here is how to make a facial scrub. Mix together 3 scoops sugar, 11/2
scoops veggie oil, and drops of essential oils. It's a good idea for
last minute gifts.
My Christmas tree is gorgeous. I'm putting on the candy canes.
A great big shout goes out to the CASE (campus activities) and Mind
Spa (outpost of counseling center) folks for all they do to relieve
final exam stress and Joey cat for (so far) not knocking over the tree.
jules hathaway


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