About the Book

The Story
The illustrated book "Ada & Zangemann - A Tale of Software, Skateboards and Raspberry Ice Cream" tells the story of the famous inventor Zangemann and the girl Ada, a curious tinkerer. Ada begins to experiment with hardware and software, and in the process realises how crucial it is for her and others to control technology. Here is a short summary:
The famous inventor Zangemann lives in a huge villa high above the city. Adults and children alike love his inventions and are desperate to have them. But then something happens: when Zangemann wants to take another close-up look at his inventions during a walk through the city, a child hits him in the shin with the skateboard. That hurts! Enraged, the inventor makes a momentous decision... The clever girl Ada sees through what is going on. Together with her friends, she forges a plan.
A book that arouses children's interest in tinkering and encourages them to shape technology. From age 6 to 106.
Editions & Languages
The following list shows the languages in which the book is currently available and the publishers under which it is published.
Danish
Publisher: Modspil
ISBN: 978-1-7185-0318-2
English
Publisher: No Starch Press
ISBN: 978-1-718-50320-5
French
Publisher: C&F éditions
ISBN: 978-2-37662-075-4
German
Publisher: O'Reilly Germany / Dpunkt Verlag
ISBN: 978-3-96009-190-5
With O'Reilly Germany / Dpunkt Verlag, the FSFE has an affiliate link and gets 12%.
Italian
Publisher: StreetLib
ISBN: 979-12-224-6182-3
With StreetLib, the FSFE has an affiliate link and gets 42% for the paper book and 72% for the eBook.
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 979-12-224-6182-3
Norwegian
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 978-8-293-82824-2

Author & Illustrator
Matthias Kirschner is the author of the book and president of the FSFE. Matthias was fascinated by computers and software as a child. He had an early internet connection, through which he learned a lot. Children have the right to take their future into their own hands, and Matthias is committed to the goal that all humans can use software in a self-determined way. He also wants to build an electric skateboard with Free Software.
Sandra Brandstätter is the book’s illustrator. Sandra has always liked crafting with scissors, pliers, glue, wire, fabric, and paper. Today she works as an illustrator, comics author and character designer for animated films and series, such as the German public television series ‘Trudes Tier’. If she could choose from an ice cream machine, Sandra would pick a creamy rainbow ice cream with lemon-cucumber flavour and a lot of sprinkles.
Build your Own Version
Our tool chain automatically builds different formats of the book from the translations on Weblate. For example, screen-readable PDFs or Braille versions of the book. Due to the license, you can make modifications yourself and build own version.