This was GREAT. It showed the importance of knowing what’s important TO YOU and owning it. The SEL elements were great without being too much. It was also a great inspiration for coding and building your own work. AND STEAM?! We LOVE encouraging readers to move forward with their tech dreams.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

Langeland did a fantastic job in the age-old tale of trying to fit in as the both the new kid and everyone's issues in trying to fit in during middle school and in depicting these issues in a graphic novel. Ultimately, the algorithm can only do so much in helping one be true to oneself and maintaining relationships. This was a great book to read along with tweens in your life.

The Cool Code is a fun graphic novel. It is wonderful for people who like Raina Telgemeier. Zoey is now in public school after being homeschooled and really wants to fit in. She develops an app to help her figure out what is cool. It makes her popular but it pulls her away from her real friends.

I like that it shows that it is best to be yourself and find people who like you for who you really are.

Thanks to NetGalley and Clarion Books for the ARC.

The Cool Code is a fun, STEM-centered graphic novel about fitting in, being yourself, and finding your tribe. Kids who like or are curious about coding will be intrigued by this novel. It will also appeal to homeschoolers transitioning to public schools as well as those who are only children. The Cool Code stands out for being unique and bringing many tweens tech dreams to life.

This is a great book for fans of realistic fiction graphic novels like those by Shannon Hale, Raina T., and Kayla Miller.

What a great book! I read it in 1 day and had so much fun reading it.
I love how it incorporated coding into the story, as I like to encourage my students to explore STEM related topics.
This will be popular in my libraries, where my students love Babysitter's Club graphic novels and Raina Telgemeier graphic novels.
Can't wait to add this to my collections!

This was a really fun and interesting graphic novel. Zoe has been homeschooled her entire life and is now going to school for the very first time in the middle of a semester during middle school. Zoe‘s parents are coders, and she learned from them. She developed her own app, called the cool code to help her in every day life to be a better person than she already is. But her original app is not as good or work as well as it should. When Zoe joins the coding club, the entire club, take it up as a project to make it better and make Zoe one of the cool kids. Zoe by complete mistake makes her own friends and learns that being cool isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be if you have to be someone besides yourself. This book was a lot of fun and had a great message and made coding more cool then kids might think of it otherwise. Overall, I could see this book staying on the shelves for years to come.

An amusing STEM storyline complete with a rather sassy (and sometimes unnecessarily honest) llama avatar.

For Libraries: There is a lot to be amused with here and your kiddos who like the realistic graphic novels will surely enjoy this one.

Thank you Clarion Books and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this great book. This middle-grade graphic novel depicts a very realistic struggle to fit in and a creative solution the main character comes up with to deal with her problem. I enjoyed the diverse, realistic characters, the clean, easy on the eyes illustrations, and relevant storyline. Would definitely share this book with my students and am sure they love it as much as I did.

The Cool Code by Deirdre Langeland, illustrated by Sarah Mai (Clarion Books, 2022), is an amusing graphic novel about a formerly homeschooled eighth-grader who creates an app to help her be “cool” in her new school. Zoey enters school worried about how to make friends, and in the end, she finds the true meaning of friendship even without her app coaching her.

Zoey’s “Cool Code” app, which features a llama avatar Zoey nicknames C.C., gives her pointers on what to wear, who to talk to, how to act, and more. Since Zoey has coded it herself, however, it doesn’t seem to help her be as “cool” as she should be. With her new friends Zoey and Daniel from the computer programming club, Zoey finds ways to program the app by comparing styles and behaviors to “cool” ones found online and in popular movies. The now well-programmed C.C. tells Zoey to do all sorts of things she wouldn’t normally be comfortable with, such as running for student council and talking to everyone in the room. It’s a good thing the app tells her what to say each minute! It’s working!

In the end, The Cool Code becomes an amusing commentary on popularity and cliques in a middle school. Zoey stops being okay with the app when it actually tells her to avoid being with her actual friends, Morgan and Daniel. It turns out that being popular with everyone is not fun, because then there are no close friendships to enjoy. Zoey does come to the realization that it’s better to just be yourself and find people who like you for you.

The graphic novel format is great with this story. The app’s llama spokesperson, C.C., is illustrated with pastel rainbow-and-unicorn colors, and she bursts out of Zoey’s phone as a character with her own personality. We see the expressions on Daniel and Morgan’s faces and so we can see how they feel about Zoey’s changing popularity.

From this brief description, it sounds like it is a didactic message about being a friend and finding friends. But with the over-the-top and exaggerated story, The Cool Code does not sink into a maudlin lecture. Instead, it is just funny.

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book.

Fans of Raina adjacent graphic novels will enjoy this offering by Deirdre Langeland. Navigating middle school is tough enough, but as a newbie only entering public school in 8th grade it can seem insurmountable to find a place where you belong. The agony of trying to fit in and be cool will resonate with middle grade readers who will certainly wish they had an app for that! Relatable and with a clear message that being yourself, no matter who that is, is the ultimate winning strategy.

This is a fun middle-grade graphic novel about a girl starting school for the first time (after being homeschooled her whole life) and it's got all the plot points you just thought of when I mentioned the premise. But you know what? That's okay because it does all the tropes rather well! All the characters are well presented and kids feel like kids without being annoying or brainless. Is it gets a little stuck in the middle (it could have been shorter/tighter and it would have been better) but it's totally something I'd recommend to the demographic.

In “The Cool Code” you will read about Zoey, an homeschooled girl who’s parents send her to a public school during the 8th grade to work on their company. She has created an app to help her fit in with everyone. This graphic novel was cute. I loved the diversity in the characters.

This is book is a good book for homeschooled students that then go to a school. They have to come out of their comfort zones to interact with others their age. Sometimes socializing is tough for an adult, and it is really tough for a middle school student. Usually the kids already have their friends and aren’t very flexible in including outsiders. This story shows how a girl gets some friends. I really like how the kids were coders. Too bad, those kids are not the ones others want to hang with. This book is good for my middle grade speech therapy kids, to show a way a graphic novel is written, You don’t have to be traditional about wording and you can use emoji’s and other characters in the writing,
Looking forward to this title being published.

All of my kids enjoyed this book and look forward to more to come in the future. Silly, fun, and keeps them entertained.

The Cool Code is a book about a formerly-homeschooled 8th grade girl who is now attending a public school for the first time. She worries about fitting in and - due to her love for coding that she gained from her parents - she creates an app to help her navigate social scenarios. This app is the Cool Code.

The Cool Code app itself is a cute concept. I think a lot of people have had the desire for some sort of program that would help them to socialize better (see: Be More Chill) - and the middle school years are the worst for many. The glimpses we got at the making of the app were cool, such as seeing them gathering information from books to be downloaded by the app's system. I initially wasn't sure what to make of how the program was shown in the art. On one hand, I sometimes felt confused on how the app was supposed to be functioning and was wondering what the characters were actually seeing. On the other hand, I can see how the little rude animated llama is more amusing (especially to younger readers) than the alternatives. The art in general is adorable and was a highlight for me.

The plot was straightforward, but felt a bit anticlimactic to me. There were some plot points that I expected the story to reach that it didn't. The ending was as I expected, but I thought there'd be more drama before we came to that point.

I didn't feel a strong connection with the main character's best friends. They weren't bad by any means; just could have been fleshed out more. It would have been interesting to see a more serious discussion with her parents, as well as some focus on the girl's other friends near the end. I do appreciate the lack of romantic relationships and/or "crushes" that are focused on in the story. Speaking of friends…

Near the beginning of the book, we're given this line: "I've been homeschooled my whole life, so I just never hung out with a lot of kids". I'm rather tired of this trope. A school building, during regular school hours, is not the only place where someone can make friends. The authors make sure to state that the main character didn't have any friends before attending public school though. I'm aware that there is a vast range of experiences from homeschoolers, but the fact that the character's parents seemed to have been caring and attentive people back when they were homeschooling her makes it an odd choice for them to have neglected this area.

Despite some aspects that I wasn't a fan of, I do think this is a fun book for the demographic it was intended for. This is listed as a middle grade book (aimed towards readers who are 8-12 years old). I can picture myself reading through this fast when I was that age. It also has some interesting topics for thought, or ones that parents/teachers could use to spark conversations. Bonus: girls coding!

So cute! A trio of nerdy coding kids use their computer prowess to make their new friend, and new kid in school, Zoe, "cool" by creating a program that tells you what to do to become popular. Along the way it teaches lessons about friendship, cutting yourself a break, being yourself and the importance of taking time to smell the proverbial roses.

Zoey's parents just started their own company, which means Zoey will now be going to public school instead of being home0-schooled. There' s just one problem: Zoey has no idea has to be cool and she's sure she's not going to fit into the local middle school. Luckily for Zoey, she programmed her very own app designed to teach her how to be cool. Pretty soon, Zoey makes friends at the Coding Club and they decide to take her app to the next level. Will Zoey's new app lead to fame and popularity or cause more trouble than it's worth?

Deirdre Langeland has created a realistic graphic novel in the vein of Raina Telgemeier that will speak to middle school students worried about fitting in and making friends. Zoey's struggles feel authentic and relatable. The book provides some interesting food for thought about the integration of artificial technology into our relationships with each other that could be a useful teaching tool. Ultimately, the conclusion to Zoey's story provides some great lessons about the importance of relying on our parents for advice and putting a priority on our friendships.

Recommended for readers that enjoy Shannon Hale's Best Friends graphic memoir or Raina Telgemeier.

“Sometimes I wish everything could be as simple as programming. On the computer, you can make anything happen. You just have to write the code. It doesn’t work out how you want it? Go back and fix it. In real life, there are no do-overs.”

Zoey has been homeschooled by her two parents until 8th grade. As the daughter of programmers, Zoey is really skilled at writing code. So strong in fact that she created her own app called The Cool Code (C.C. for short). The app is designed to help you “be cool” at school. The app helps you do things like choose outfits and makes suggestions on people to talk to, what to say, and activities to do.

Zoey quickly builds a connection with the two students on the Coding Club at school and a friendship blossoms as they learn to navigate middle school and work through the apps glitches as a team! However, when the Cool Code started slowly pushing Zoey away from her friends and becoming too much, she is forced to examine what it really means to be “cool” and “be yourself”

I personally LOVED this graphic novel. I think it will be highly enjoyed by middle school students! The themes of self-acceptance, finding your people, and perseverance are seen in the characters. Overall, this was a well-written graphic novel, and I cannot wait to add it to my Middle School Library collection!