Instructions Not Included

Instructions Not Included
Girl Code Revolution

Today is the first part of a two part series focussing on
juvenile nonfiction books celebrating women in STEM. I think these
books are crucial to preventing the female brain drain from the STEM
fields that starts at about those ages and accelerates in the
transition to middle school. Even in the 21st century. Today's
review is all about women and girls breaking glass ceilings in
computer science.

"Not so long ago there were no computers.
Math problems were solved with pencil and pen.
Telephones, with rotary dials, were tethered to wire.
Mail arrived in an envelope, carried by a postman.
Files were stored in paper folders and metal cabinets."
The conditions described in the first paragraph of Tami Lewis
Brown and Debbie Loren Dunn's Instructions Not Included will be hard
for today's children to imagine. After all they're growing up in a
time when a pocket size smart phone can perform all these functions
and much more.
We've definitely come a long way. Instructions Not Included
shows younger readers how during World War II three female
mathematicians helped to develop a secret weapon--a computer, ENIAC,
that would perform military calculations much faster than rooms full
of humans. At first there were glitches, even as it was getting
closer to the time for dignitaries to do an inspection. But these
women wouldn't give up.
Instructions Not Included is a great read for math loving
girls. It includes a list of resources for readers who want to learn
more.

Too often females are still being told that coding is a guy
thing. If a daughter or niece or some other special girl in your life
is being told this bullshit Sheela Preuitt's Girl Code Revolution is a
useful book to have on hand.
One strand of its narrative is a mini who's who in computer
herstory beginning with Ada Lovelace who is considered to be the first
computer programmer. Or how about Grace Hopper, the mother of COBOL,
who coined the term debugging? (There's a great story behind that.)
Or Margaret Hamilton who led a team that created space mission software?
The other strand is a series of appealing coding projects
beginning with creating a meme.
Girl Code Revolution is a wonderful gift for girls showing
interest and talent to help prevent the world from convincing them
that coding is not their thing.

On a purrrsonal note, my earliest school math memory stems from first
grade, right before my first birthday. We had a worksheet of addition
problems. We were supposed to make as many circles as each number
indicated and count them to find the answer. I skipped the circles
part and added. I realized all the answers were nine and deduced that
the purpose of the lesson was to show us there were many number ways
to get nine. I refused to make the circles even when my teacher kept
me after school to try to make me. In high school I was acing algebra
II. So many of the football players were flunking it the school was
in danger of not being able a team the next fall. The coach said if I
fell back to a C to allow grading on a curve he would make the player
of my choice be my prom date. Of course I said no. But even with
all that evidence I became convinced that I wasn't good in math. Then
in undergrad I did so well in calculus I became the only non major
inducted into my school's math club. Between SAT and GRE my math
score went up over 100 points. When I got to grad school statistics I
loved it enough to take an extra semester and got all As. (Jules).
I do not have to know math. The perks of being a cat. (Tobago)
A great big shout out to all who encourage girls and women to believe
in their STEM abilities.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway






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