How do computers follow instructions? A book about programming

STEM topics are hot right now, and these informative new books from the How Do? series (2 new titles) address broad scientific fields in a playful way. The books feature silly cartoon illustrations that may appeal to readers but often overwhelm the text on the page. It doesn't help that the font is small and looks a bit amateurish. Silly, but not especially funny, questions and answers introduce each topic. If readers can get past these distractions, though, they will be richly rewarded. The main content in these books is quite engaging. The information, presented casually, goes somewhat beyond the basics of each scientific field without presuming prior knowledge. In How Do Computers Follow Instructions? Liso introduces Booleans, if-else statements, and loops in ways that feel fresh and effortless. Table of Elements to make a difficult topic more palatable. In the back matter, a glossary and various infographics and diagrams round out each book. It is unfortunate that the look of the books does not better match the high-tech information they contain, but the heart of the books remains educational and interesting.--Miriam Aronin Copyright 2010 Booklist

An introduction to programming concepts, framed around the notion of telling computers what to do.Through questions and answers, this book walks young readers from the ideas of computer languages and input and output to data variables, Boolean logic, and loops. The questions come in pairs, the first straightforward and the second ludicrously silly, providing humor and a chance for an audience response of "No!" For example, the text asks if computers and programs use phones to call or text with users to determine when to run a program, if computers keep track of programs via a "secret diary," and if computers flip coins to determine whether or not to do somethingthat question comes with charming art of a computer unplugging itself in response to a coin flip. The lively artcartoon drawings with a thin line, frequently on graph-paper backgroundsimplies notebook doodles and features ethnic diversity among the depicted children. A superfluous final section, illustrated with photos of diverse children, gives examples of programmed technologies such as televisions, vending machines, cellphones, laptops, and gaming consoles. The text features overly wordy passages and suffers from sentence-to-sentence redundancies. That said, the explanations are all solid, and the computer-logic portionsBoolean, if-else statements, and loopsare demonstrated well through speech-bubble exchanges among characters. A glossary concisely defines terms.A broad-(key)strokes rather than nuts-and-bolts computer-science introduction. (Nonfiction. 6-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.