When Dad tells Rox to clean her room, she quickly thinks up a bot that will do it for her, writing code that instructs her bot to use artificial intelligence to sort objects by color and type. Using code, she programs toy robots that can do things like make broccoli disappear-or mischief. In this title that was first introduced as a customizable, personalized print-on-demand product, Rox has a superpower. Girl power abounds in this book about coding that introduces young readers to the world of programming while offering them hands-on activities via a companion app. The easy connection makes this a welcome addition to the small shelf of examples of ingenuity in developing nations. Though Isatou Ceesay’s country may be unfamiliar to young readers, they’ve probably done some handicraft recycling of their own.

These reveal the labor involved and show the women’s joy in the results of their work. Fittingly, the collage illustrations make use of colorful papers and plastic bags. A map, author’s note, glossary, timeline and excellent suggestions for further reading set this example of a woman who made a difference in a larger context. Paul, who first went to the Gambia as a volunteer and has returned in other roles, tells this story in a straightforward fashion, deftly including words from the Wolof language and including details about Ceesay’s village life. These were sold at local markets and eventually internationally. Her solution was to collect and clean used bags, cut them into strips and crochet the strips into useful plastic purses. But in her village, they soon became a nuisance, piling up in ugly dump areas where mosquitoes bred. When Isatou Ceesay first discovered plastic bags in the Gambia in West Africa, in the 1980s, they seemed wonderfully useful and sturdy. Distressed by the problem of plastic-bag disposal, a Gambian woman organizes her neighbors to turn trash into treasure.

One plastic bag by miranda paul