Ada & Zangemann - A tale of software, skateboards, and raspberry ice cream
Here you find additional information and resources about the book "Ada & Zangemann - A tale of software, skateboards, and raspberry ice cream" by Matthias Kirschner and Sandra Brandstätter.
About the book
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.
This illustrated book 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.
A book that arouses children's interest in tinkering and encourages shaping technology. From age 6 to 106.
The book is currently available:
- in English by the publisher No Starch Press for pre-order and can soon be pre-ordered from your preferred book store with the ISBN 978-1-718-50318-2.
- in German by the publisher O'Reilly Germany / Dpunkt Verlag (affiliate link - the FSFE gets 12%) and can be ordered from your preferred book store with the ISBN 978-3-96009-190-5.
Book Reviews
"A rousing tale of self-reliance, community, and standing up to bullies...software freedom is human freedom!" - Cory Doctorow, Sci-Fi Author
"Introduces readers young and old to the power and peril of software. Behind it all is a backdrop of ethics of knowledge sharing upon which the arc of human history rides." - Vint Cerf, Computer Scientist and One of the Inventors of the Internet
"The book is a motivation for the first demo and a little bit of civil disobedience. It is a utopia of possibilities to make the world better with limited means and little money, and an example without moralistic finger-pointing, that control does not make happy." - Anna Biselli, Editor-in-Chief Netzpolitik.org
"Together with illustrator Sandra Brandstätter, the author has succeeded in creating a technoid fairy tale with a contemporary moral" - Basler Zeitung
"Even as a non-child, I was captivated by the story from the first page to the last. Kudos to the author for packaging difficult topics such as monopolies, lobbyism, digital divide, software freedom, digital autonomy, IoT, consumer control, e-waste and much more in a child-friendly form in an easily understandable and exciting storyline." - Jörg Luther, chief editor of the German Linux-Magazin, LinuxUser, Raspberry Pi Geek
"The IT fairy tale we need" - Golem.de
Book readings
The author Matthias Kirschner has already given several readings of the book: At events for children and adults (from 6 to 106 years), in school classes, libraries and on other occasions. If you are are interested in a reading by the author or in other available languages by FSFE volunteers, please contact us at contact@fsfe.org.
How to learn coding?
There are many resources out which help young people to learn programming. Our community is gathering more information about that topic on our wiki page, and we invite you to help us with amending and keeping this up-to-date.
Download drawing templates
We provide some drawing templates for children. You can download the PDF file and print out the pages you like.
Ada stickers and postcards
We provide some "Ada & Zangemann" stickers and plan to provide postcards, and other material which you can order gratis on our information material page.
Additional information about software freedom
You would like to receive news about "Ada & Zangemann", for example about new stickers or other materials, new translations, or other information about the book? You can subscribe to the FSFE's mailings and not miss this information as well as also receiving general information about software freedom and the FSFE's work.
Already a teenager?
Graphic by Lisa Schmidt, CC-BY-SA 4.0
For teenagers who are already experienced in programming, the FSFE is organising the "Youth hacking for freedom" coding competition. Please help us to promote this activity and encourage teenagers to start programming.