Rox's Secret Code

by Mara Lecocq, Nathan Archambault, Jessika von Innerebner (Illustrator), Rodolfo Dengo (Contribution by)

Overview

A coding adventure about a brilliant inventor and her runaway robot,Rox's Secret Codeaims to inspire the next generation of female leaders in STEM!

Rox is happy to spend the whole day on her laptop inventing awesome robots, but her dad wants her to clean up! When the Chorebot she designs gets a mind of its own and tries to organize the whole city, Rox and her neighbor Amar race to recode Chorebot in time to save the day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781576878996
Publisher:	POW! Kids Books
Publication date:	11/06/2018
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	638,545
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 6 Years

About the Author

Mara Lecocq is an entrepreneur with a mission to empower girls and women through initiatives that bring together creativity and technology. Formerly a creative director in advertising and technology, Mara was one of the only female leaders in her field to create digital products and campaigns for brands like Nike, Starbucks and Verizon. Realizing that ambition starts young-studies showing that stereotypes have an impact on children's aspirations before the age of 6-Mara decided to found Secret Code. It's a customizable children's media company that makes girls see themselves as heroes of powerful industries, with stories customized to their name and their appearance. Mara won a grant by Sophia Amoruso's Girlboss Foundation and a spot at the startup pitch competition Project Entrepreneur, by the Rent The Runway Foundation. Rox's Secret Code is their first published book. Mara wants to empower the next generation of diverse tech leaders by making coding and robotics fun and aspirational for girls of all ethnicities in their formative years-with an inspiring story and its coding game to get children's paths to fulfilling futures started right away. ♦ Nathan Archambault was raised in Rhode Island and attended Syracuse University, where he received degrees in Advertising and English. He's the author of Rox's Secret Code, a picture book that inspires kids to get into coding and become the tech leaders of tomorrow. After spending brief stints living in Washington, DC, and Chicago, Archambault settled in New York City where he works as a freelance creative director and copywriter in the advertising industry. His work has been recognized by D&AD, the Cannes Lions, The One Show and Time Magazine. He now lives in Hastings-on-Hudson with his wife, 2 daughters and Boris the English Bulldog. About the Illustrator Jessika Von Innerebner loves illustrating stories of super-sheroes, skater rockstars, and baseball princesses. In spare moments, she can be found dancing, long-boarding, traveling to distant lands, chasing adventure, and laughing with friends. About the Tech Lead Rodolfo Dengo is passionate about intersectional feminism, and is the proud father of a feisty little girl, Emma. Tinkering with all things mechanical and digital, he codes and leads technology for Secret Code's customizable products.

Editorial Reviews

09/03/2018
Rox, a girl in a fitted flight-style jacket and a pink tutu, is a whiz at computer coding. When Rox’s father insists she clean her room, she whips up an AI “Chorebot” that resembles a deranged vacuum cleaner. What could go wrong? Von Innerebner works in bright art that first shows Chorebot being helpful, then terrorizing the town by reorganizing everything in sight, including people. When Rox’s friend Amar dons her tutu, Chorebot is stumped: “Did he go with the boy batch, the girl group, the skirt pile, or the hat pack? CAN. NOT. COM. PUTE.” Rox uses her ingenuity to reconfigure Chorebot’s coding and save the day. Archambault delivers upbeat (if unsubtle) messages about the advantages of coding know-how, girl power, and gender stereotypes. Ages 4–6. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Girl power abounds in this book about coding that introduces young readers to the world of programming while offering them hands-on activities via a companion app...The artwork, styled in the tradition of popular superhero series, is peppy and colorful, and it depicts Rox as an adorable black girl donning a black bomber jacket and a pink tutu... Informative, empowering, and fun. -Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2018-09-02

Girl power abounds in this book about coding that introduces young readers to the world of programming while offering them hands-on activities via a companion app.

In this title that was first introduced as a customizable, personalized print-on-demand product, Rox has a superpower. Using code, she programs toy robots that can do things like make broccoli disappear—or mischief. When Dad tells Rox to clean her room, she quickly thinks up a bot that will do it for her, writing code that instructs her bot to use artificial intelligence to sort objects by color and type. Though Rox knows that there's a high potential for her creation to rebel, the perks outweigh any potential adverse effects. Rox's robot has her room neat and tidy in no time—and then the entire home. Chorebot's AI allows it to keep learning, and it seems Chorebot can do no wrong until the robot decides to rearrange the entire city (both buildings and people) by type, style, and gender. Chorebot goes "out of his artificial mind!" Rox must now stop her creation…without the assistance of the internet. The artwork, styled in the tradition of popular superhero series, is peppy and colorful, and it depicts Rox as an adorable black girl donning a black bomber jacket and a pink tutu. A companion app (not available for review) allows readers to create a bot of their own.

Informative, empowering, and fun. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews