Graphic Novel Week: Secret Coders: Paths & Portals by Gene Luen Yang & Mike Holmes

Welcome to Graphic Novel Week! This week, I will be posting reviews of graphic novels, specifically ones from :01, which is a favorite graphic novel publisher of mine. Here's a link to their website.

Since the first graphic novel in this series (Secret Coders: Get With The Program) knocked my socks off (see the review just before this one), I requested a free copy of the second book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. The things I liked about book one were the well-developed characters, the playful attitude of the story, and the amazing way it demonstrated binary visually so that I could understand the concept. Unfortunately, Book Two (Paths & Portals) does not share many of these positive qualities. However, it does have its own strengths to add to the mix.

In Paths & Portals, it seems that the true mission of this graphic novel series has been revealed. What felt like a fun foray into computer programming designed to get kids interested in the field now feels like a cartoonized computer programming workbook. Instead of a graphic novel adults could also enjoy, book two had almost no entertainment value for readers who might not want to work alongside the kids in the story to do the computer programming exercises. While I can see how Paths & Portals would have tremendous value within a STEM classroom setting, or even as fun reading for a kid with a burgeoning interest in computer programming, shifting the focus from a mystery involving programming to actual repetitive-seeming computer programming exercises reduced character development and all but stopped the progression of the story in its tracks, and replaced those necessary elements with what felt like little more than a workbook.

I finished book one feeling excited and eagerly anticipating the next volume in the story. But, since reading book two, I wonder how much story will actually be told in the subsequent volume. Using graphic novels to teach computer programming and get kids interested in the field is great, but I wonder how effective the strategy is when it comes at the expense of action, plot, and character. Will these issues be solved in volume three? My review of Secrets & Sequences will be up later tonight. Stay tuned!