I really enjoyed this book! Although I felt the ending was somewhat abrupt. It was a cute story overall though!

The cool code was funny and insightful. The graphics where bright and friendly. The author does a good job of making Zoe relatable and covering the anxiety of firsts. I really like the way the coding club rallies around Zoe and the app. it was an excellent way to explore apps, popularity, and friendship in a way that is meaningful for young people in upper elementary and middle schools.

The Cool Code is a well-written and beautifully illustrated graphic novel perfect for middle school aged kids.

Fresh life lesson for kids paired with fabulous emotion-charged illustrations. Vibrant color pallet enhances the snarky and humorous dialogue.

Fun graphic novel about the struggles of middle school. Zoey may not understand how to be a 'cool' kid at school, but she knows how to code, so she creates one to help her navigate and climb the social ladder. Problems start to arise when the code wants her to stop hanging out with her 'uncool' friends. Totally relatable story that's sure to resonate with any middle schooler.

This is honestly the best. The struggle to fit in is so real! I think I related to Morgan more than anyone, but every character in this book is relatable in some way or another. I love the coding aspect of this story, especially since coding is becoming more and more integrated into our every day lives. C.C. might feel like Coding Club is for nerds, but I think it just analyzed a bunch of literature and articles about what "cool" was twenty plus years ago.

This graphic novel is well-drawn and the art style fits the lighthearted tone nicely. All in all, The Cool Code is *chef's kiss*

Zoey is starting in a new school. Not only is it a new school, but it is the first time she has ever been in public school. Luckily Zoey has someone on her side to help her crack the Cool Code. While her parents may not have prepared her for public school, they have taught her how to write an impressive computer code giving birth to the Cool Code. An amazing program that Zoey can place on her phone, and it will assess what is going on around her and advise her how to come off as Cool. But can a code really break how to be cool in one of the toughest places on the planet, middle school. Only time will tell.
I really enjoyed this story. I love how it truly shows Zoey’s integration into the middle school world. And how in the end Zoey can set aside what the Cool Code says and find what truly matters to her. Being a teen is hard enough without having to worry all the time about always looking cool. Teens are going to love this story. The artwork is fun and who doesn’t love a cute little llama. Plus, the llama’s personality is just stunning, and the artwork makes it come to life in such a fun way. I am truly looking forward to recommending this title to patrons.

Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s Books, Clarion Books, and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

This was one of my favorite graphic novels that I've read this year. In this, we follow Zoe who has been homeschooled up until this point in her life by her parents who are both coders. Zoe has to deal with a lot of firsts - first school, first bus ride, first cafeteria, and many more. To deal with all of these things, Zoe has created an app called the Cool Code. It has a cute llama interface that analyzes situations and gives advice based on the info available. Zoe ends up joining the Coding Club and makes two friends that are also part of the club. Using the Cool Code, they try to make Zoe more popular and she ends up running for Student Council President. Will the Cool Code actually help make Zoe popular? Or will she stay true to herself and her friends? You'll have to read and find out for yourself!

This was a lovely book. I enjoyed reading it and I was satisfied by the ending. I was particularly impressed by the distinctions made between coding and socializing.

Excellent middle grade graphic novel about transitioning into middle school from a homeschool environment. Zoey is a sweet, relatable character trying her best to fit into a new school for the first time. She's been homeschooled up until this point, but she has coded the ultimate tool to help her navigate her new environment. Enter The Cool Code! This sweet coming-of-age novel is sure to engage the reader!

Thank you to NetGalley and Clarion publishing for allowing me to read the eARC of this title.

Zoey has been homeschooled her entire life. Her parents are coders and have taught her to code. But now, her parents are starting their own company and have decided to send her to public school. The idea of 8th grade terrifies her. She creates an app to help her be "cool" and fit in the students of her new school.
I enjoyed this graphic novel and so will your students. There is a diverse cast of characters and a snarky llama!

Loved this cute GN. Great for girls who are interested in coding and for those who see themselves as loners. Can’t wait to add it to my library collection.

Zoey has always been homeschooled, but she is headed to public school in the middle of October. As a child of computer programmer parents, she uses her coding skills to create an app that tells her how to be cool. This is such a cute premise, and it is well executed. The illustrations are colorful and charming, and it’s going to be a popular one for middle grade readers!

Summary:
Zoey has just been dumped by her parents in the scariest place ever... Middle school and she's all stressed about how she's going to fit in. It's always been Mom, Dad, and her, but with her own ingenuity, she's cracked the code! She's made the Cool Code! And with CC and its llama avatar Zoey's bound to become the coolest kid in her new middle school!

Review: I think it's a really good graphic novel that is relatable to even children that aren't homeschooled. Zoey speaks on a lot of anxieties that children feel being the new kid or just having to do something that they cannot control the outcome for. And while the app is helpful to some extent Zoey quickly finds that her new friends, the ones that the app keeps telling her aren't cool enough for her, are really all that she was looking for.

Story: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Worldbuilding: 5/5
Overall: 5/5
Thanks to NetGalley, Deirdre Langeland, and Harper Collins Children's Books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really fun graphic novel about Zoey who has been homeschooled her whole life and her parents decide to send her to school in the middle of her 8th grade year. Her parents are computer coders who are starting a company so they don’t have time to teach her at home anymore so she codes an app to help her be cool and make friends at her new school. It ends up being pretty glitchy and people think she is weird because she is always getting caught talking to herself but she’s really talking to that app since it’s a learning app and will advise her while gathering more date to advise her better. She meets Daniel and Morgan and joins the coding club where they take her app as their yearlong project to make it actually work and make Zoey popular. The apps avatar is a Llama called CC and it is a learning AI so it is very sassy and keeps telling Zoey what she shouldn’t do if she wants to be popular and that she shouldn’t hang out with her friends since they aren’t cool enough. Zoey does get wrapped into being popular and going for student council president but eventually decides that the test of the app is complete since it did make her popular and they reset it and she goes back to hanging out with Morgan and Daniel. Really cute novel, it gave me Mean Girl vibes with Zoey getting sucked in to the Popular clique and Morgan being jealous about it. Really fast read and really cute story about friendship and that being popular isn’t the answer when you already have true friends.

Thanks to Clarion Books and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. Zoey is the new kid at school after being homeschooled for years, and she worried about making friends. She codes an app that will help her be cool and fit in, and befriends kids in a coding club who make the app their new project. Zoey is quickly rising in popularity, but the app is becoming more controlling. Soon, she must decide if there really is an algorithm that can define her and if popularity is more important than individuality.

Cute graphic novel about making friends. Appreciated the inclusion of girls that code, and showing that smart girls can miss the mark too. The engineering process is modeled without getting too didactic, but the message was a little vague and the ending felt a bit abrupt. Overall a solid addition to a school library.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4975572371

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this. I enjoyed this graphic novel and think it’s a great read for upper elementary and middle school. It addresses the awkward challenges of being a new student but also the challenges faced by preteens and young teenagers in school. I really enjoyed the premise of the book- learning to navigate socially while staying true to yourself. However, I felt like the story was building up to a bit more conflict between Zoey and her friends but then just quickly and pretty abruptly wrapped up neatly. I think it would’ve been helpful for her friends to articulate their hurt over their mistreatment instead of it being largely implied. There also needed to be a bit more character development - Dan seemed to take center stage at the beginning but then faded into the background, which was unfortunate. It definitely had a “Mean Girls” vibe, and I was expecting the CC rankings to get leaked to the school because it seemed to be setting up that way. There were so many ways that the story could have gone to make it a bit more nuanced and rich, but the moral of the story is made clear. This is definitely a middle grade book and would be a bit too young for 8th grade, I think. The illustrations were eye catching, vibrant, and kept the reader’s attention. Overall, I’d recommend this for my 6th graders and possibly 7th graders.

The Cool Code tackles themes of identity and popularity with a twist: CODING! Middle graders will love Zoey and CC (the cool code llama). Everyone can relate to middle school being some level of terrible, giving this graphic novel wide appeal.

Zoey loves to code. In coding, everything seems simple - well, not simple, but fixable. Everything is a problem with a solution. Troubleshoot, improve data sets, recode out the flaws. When Zoey makes the switch from homeschool to public school, it's a big problem and she sets out to deal with it like she does any other problem: with code.

Zoey creates her Cool Code app to help her navigate the nuances of middle school. In the process, she makes new friends, hones her tech skills, and finds success. But is she losing herself in the process?

Zoey has been homeschooled, but with her parents' new business taking off, she enrolls in the local public school. She knows it's hard to fit in, so she uses her coding knowledge from homeschool to create an app called The Cool Code. With its guidance, she should be able to navigate middle school and keep up with the cool kids. She quickly realizes that the AI definition of cool leads her away from the things she truly enjoys - so what's better, to be cool or to be happy?

The illustration style in this book will definitely appeal to readers, as will the message of friendship and acceptance. I enjoyed watching Zoey grow with each choice she had to make about how she defines cool versus her creation's definition of cool.