Episode
The Secret Coders or How I Learned to Love a Teeny Eni Robot Turtle
- Podcast
- Dads on Books
- Published
- Aug 31, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2870
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://DadsOnBooks.transistor.fm/s1/67
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Summary
It’s only our second graphic novel, and boy was it graphic! And novel. And second! It’s The Secret Coders written by Gene Luen Yang and illustrated by Mike Holmes , the first in a six-book educational graphic novel collection. Mike and David bring on the cowbell for the first time. And the last? It's educational. (Just a little. Just a bit of coding. It’s basic. Not Basic.) It’s a mystery! The Mystery of the Black Squirrel? Nope. The Murder Grounds of the Dead Horse? Neigh. But there is mystery. And intrigue. And subterfuge. If anyone knows what that last one means, please email us. And the story? A mother drops her daughter off at a creepy, haunted-looking boarding school. It’s her first day. At a new school. It won’t be her last... Well actually, we don’t know that for sure as the entire book takes place in one day. And there are six books. Hmmm. 6 days? Consecutive days? Mike and David are huge fans of Gene Luen Yang 's protagonist Hopper, a relatable, feisty yet vulnerable girl and her new friend Eni. (Oh, don't forget the little turtle robot dude). They stumble upon a mystery, seek to solve it, make some discoveries, which only creates more questions. Only five more books to figure it all out. Graphic novel awesomeness, from illustrator Mike Holmes . The illustrations are classic with different points of view and perspectives, shadows, light, foreboding, four bearings, intriguingly coded chapter headings, meaningful captions like, “This is when we started changing into what we would actually become.” Whoa... BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! Mike and David, shockingly, take a detour down memory lane to their first data memories. David talks about programming in Basic on a TRS 80 and storing the data on a cassette. Mike is all, “Hold my beer.” His dad brought home a stack of…