A Beginner's Guide to Our Digital World

My 7 year old loves this book and more importantly loves to code. I actually didn't realise or expect how much he'd be into it. Well laid out with bright engaging illustrations, this book introduces basic concepts around coding in a light and fun way. Really good. :-)

Since the introduction of Computing as a new National Curriculum subject in September 2014, there have been lots of children's books popping up on Coding. This book is just part of the canon of such titles. For the most part, it is informative, if a little dull (dull design, dull text and dull illustrations - sorry) - all of the necessary basic information about coding is there for primary aged pupils plus additional information on staying safe online, with sections on cookies, keep it private and social media. There is also a website you can go to for additional activities. I think this book would be okay for a class library but I'm not sure it would keep an eager-to-code digital savvy primary aged pupil engaged.

My daughter was eleven when she started with this book, at first it looked a little 'young' for her but the bright graphic design and drip-feed of information was perfect to get her introduced to themes and ideas she could then develop by getting hand on and enabled her to move onto more advanced books.This book follows a similar format to other similar books. It starts by explaining what a computer actually is and how useless the things are without coding to tell them what to do. It describes coding basics such as algorithms and pixels in a way which doesn't overwhelm those who are quite new to coding.Although this looks to be aimed at 8 years olds, older primary school-aged children, teenagers and even adults could benefit from this book if they are wanting a simple foundation on which to build knoweldge. By the end of this book you will be familiar with the basics of coding, and that makes more 'wordy' books less scary!In a nutshell: A great intro to coding, to those familiar with coding this may look a little basic, but it's important to understand the fundamentals before moving on. Nobody is born software engineer,!

This is a great introduction to coding for Primary school aged children. It takes them through the basics from understanding what a program is, through to using basic commands, giving instructions - using programs such as Scratch (a visual drag and drop program that is widely used in schools) and with some use of Python. It starts simply and is not too wordy and builds up to making sure kids are sure about how to be safe on the internet in terms of digital footprint and security when online.If this seems quite complex for children this age - it isn't. The book is pitched just right and backed up with online linked activities with screen shots to help through every step. Kids these days seem to pick up how to use this technology very quickly, if mine are anything to go by. This book didn't have many things in it that they weren't familiar with was useful to give them the right terminology from the off. Bright and engaging illustrations and non patronising explanations make sure that this is a handy book for use at home or school. Highly recommended.

My son does Scratch programming at school and versions of logo online and on the Big Trak. I am a professional programmer by trade so I have an interest in how he he is being taught programming - but I keep out of it otherwise. I thought this book might spark some interest but it is quite dull really. I saw the list of topics and thought it would be good, certainly the IF THEN ELSE and debugging sections would be of use but actually the who book is lightweight.It is neither sparky and interesting as the graphics might imply nor deep enough in the subject to keep as a reference. Better books are available.