Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Programming Games and Animation (Kids get coding) by Heather Lyons –NO

Lyons, Heather Programming Games and Animation  (Kids get coding)  24 pgs. Lerner, 2017.  $20.

This book explains how to design a game –in this case a maze game. There are lots of stop and try activities on paper, answers in the back of the book, and definitions. The book describes the steps of planning, including adding a challenge or villain, and ends with debugging. There are cartoon illustrations and bright layouts.

I am very disappointed with this series. This book does not reference a free program that students can download and try on their own. It does have a couple simple activities on a very basic website, but they aren’t actual coding. You’d be better of putting your students on Scratch or Tynker or Hour of Code Activities. There are many great coding books, this series just isn’t one of them. I recommend the How to Code series by Max Wainewright instead.

EL(K-3) -NO.  Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author

No comments: