Anything boys can do girls can do better
Xavier Academy is having a computer coding competition with a huge cash prize! Sixth grader Sophie Washington and her friend Chloe can’t wait to enter with their other classmates, Nathan and Toby. The only problem is that the boys don’t think the girls are smart enough for their team and have already asked two other kids to work with them. Determined to prove the boys wrong, Sophie and Chloe join forces with classmates Mariama, Valentina, and “brainiac,” Rani Patel, to form their own all-girl team called “Code One.” Computer coding isn’t easy, and the ladies get more than they bargain for when hilarious mishaps stand in their way. It’s girls versus boys in the computer coding competition as Sophie and her friends work day and night to prove that anything boys can do girls can do better!
Excerpt:
“Hey, ladies,” Toby grins back and shows his
dimple. I remember when his smile made my day go from gray to rainbow bright. I
had a major crush on Toby when he came to Xavier and went through all kinds of
changes to get his attention. I’m embarrassed thinking about how I acted like I
love basketball, which I can’t stand, because he is a star player on our
school’s team, and how I even swiped a cell phone from one of my little
brother’s friends so I could call Toby. I found out he didn’t really care about
any of that stuff and liked me for myself. We aren’t a couple or anything, but
I’m glad we’re friends.
“Whatcha
reading?” I point at pieces of paper on the table that the boys are staring at
like they’re Willy Wonka’s golden tickets.
“An invitation for teams to sign up for the
new computer coding club,” answers Nathan, pushing his dark-rimmed glasses up
on his nose. “Xavier is having a coding competition to see who can make the
best computer app.”
“What’s
coding?” I ask.
“A
special language that computer programmers use to tell the computer what to
do,” Nathan explains. “like show a video, or start a game.”
“We’re
thinking about making an app that’s similar to the video game, Fortify,” says
Toby. “The grand prize is two hundred dollars, and it’s split between all the
team members. I want some new basketball shoes, and my dad says I have to come
up with half the money myself, so this will be a quick way to get it.”
“Count
us in!” enthuses Chloe. “We could always use some extra cash for trips to the
mall.”
“Yeah,
that sounds like fun,” I add.
“Wait
a minute, ladies,” says Nathan. “Coding isn’t as easy as turning a cartwheel.
We really want to win.”
“What’s
that supposed to mean?” asks Chloe, putting her hands on her hips. “You don’t
think you could win with us on the team?”
“I-I
didn’t say that,” he stammers. “It’s just with your…umm…disability and all…and
all the time you have to practice for cheerleading, I wonder if you could
really help us.”
Now
he’s done it. I can almost see the steam coming out of Chloe’s curls. My best
friend has dyslexia, a condition that makes her see numbers and letters
differently. Because of it, she takes longer to read and do math than other
kids and is in some special classes. She gets very angry when people make fun
of her about it, or act like she’s not smart.
“If
you’re so worried about us being in cheer why would you pick Toby for the
team?” Chloe counters. “He practices his basketball just as much as we practice
for cheerleading, and we’re all at the same games.”
“Toby
is a level one Fortify player,” Nathan says. “He knows everything about the
game, so he can help us write a plan for how the app should work.”
“Oooo,
I guess we should bow down to the expert,” says Chloe.
“My
eight-year-old brother Cole plays Fortify,” I pipe in. “I’m sure it’s not too
hard to figure out.”
“Yeah,
you guys just don’t want us,” Chloe frowns.
“Nobody’s
trying to keep you girls from being on the team.” Carlton holds his palms up to
keep the peace. “It’s just that we’ve asked a couple other guys to be on our
team already, so we don’t have room for anyone else.”
“Exactly. We’d love to have the extra ‘brain
power,’ but our group is full,” Nathan agrees. “In fact, I wish I could make an
app to clone myself. Then I’d have another person to do my school assignments
while I’m working on this.”
“Why’d
we want to have two of you?” says Chloe. “There are enough jerks running around
this school. Come on, Sophie! Since their group is so ‘crowded,’ let’s find a
table where there is enough space for us.”
She
turns on her heels and moves toward another table, and I follow.
“Chloe,
hold up! Don’t be like that!” Toby calls. She doesn’t look back.
“Let
her go, man,” says Nathan, “It’s not worth it.” They turn back to the
flyers.
“The
nerve of those boys!” Chloe huffs as we sit down at a table in a corner of the
room. “I can’t believe they think we’re not smart enough to help them win the
competition.”
I
shake my head and smooth my uniform skirt. I am especially surprised at Nathan,
since I beat him in both the school and regional spelling bees last year. “They
think we’re dumb just because we are cheerleaders and because we’re girls.”
“Well,
we’ll show them!” Chloe yanks a coding club flyer off the cafeteria wall.
“Let’s sign up for the competition and beat the pants off them!”
“Yeah,
they’ll wish that they begged us to be on their team!” I agree.
We
high five, and then start reviewing the contest rules as we eat our sandwiches.
The coding club meeting is tomorrow afternoon in the school computer lab. I
can’t wait to see Nathan’s and Toby’s faces when we show up with our own
winning team.
It’s
game on!
My
Review:
5 stars
Let
me start off by saying that I’ve reviewed multiple books in this series, and it
is one of my favorite series for middle grade readers because it tackles real-life
issues in creative, realistic ways while teaching important life lessons. And ss
someone who was told several times growing up that I couldn’t do something because
I was a girl, I was glad to see that issues tackled in this latest Sophie Washington
story.
On
top of addressing teamwork and empowering girls to become more active in STEM,
this book also dove into honoring and understanding multicultural differences and
using those differences to improve a team. I also enjoyed the end result of the
coding contest because I felt it really drove home the message that differences
can be even more valuable than uniformity.
Finally,
I love the relationship between Sophie and Cole. Seeing their relationship as
siblings evolve as they grow up and learn has been an unexpected bonus in this
series, and it definitely showed in Code One.
All
in all, this was another great addition to the Sophie Washington series, and I
can’t wait to see what’s next.
Don’t
forget to visit the other stops on the tour.
Author
Bio and Links:
Tonya
Duncan Ellis is the author of the Amazon bestselling, Readers' Favorite
"Five Star" rated, Sophie Washington children's books series, geared
toward readers ages 8 to 12, and is a member of the Society of Children's Book
Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). She has received awards for literary excellence,
worked as a journalist and freelance magazine writer, and is a graduate of
Centre College of Kentucky and Washington University in St. Louis.
Buy Links:
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Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on this tour and thank for the opportunity to read about another great book out there to read. It helps out so I can find books I know my family will enjoy reading. Thanks as well for the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteWho is your favorite character in your book?
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book.
ReplyDeleteGreat excerpt & awesome review!
ReplyDeleteDid you design the cover?
ReplyDeleteGreat review!
ReplyDelete