Hacking the Code: The Ziggety Zaggety Road of a Dyslexic Kid (Unabridged‪)‬

I received an audiobook copy of Gea Meijering and Mads Johan Øgaard's "Hacking the Code" for Multicultural Children's Book Day to help promote diversity in children's books. This story does a beautiful job of explaining dyslexia for both children and adults. We see the way Kees's dyslexia gives him difficulty in school, but we also see all of the things he excels at, like science and art, which shows any child who has difficulty in school that grades are far from the only important thing in life and that they're also far from being a measure of their intelligence; Kees is a clever, highly intelligent boy regardless of his struggles with reading and writing and this book makes that clear.

The antics of Kees and his group of friends throughout the book keep things amusing and entertaining. Pranks, consequences, friendships, and the question of whether or not Kees will be able to complete his writing assignment will keep a reader laughing and invested through to the end.

The narrator does an excellent job of bringing the story to life and keeping it engaging and easy to follow. I'd highly recommend the audiobook version for any reluctant or struggling readers. Make sure to also check out the audiobook companion document on the book's website at icarepress.com; Øgaard's illustrations are so charming, it'd be a shame to miss out on them!

Great story, fun characters, and important message! This book is a wonderful way to help explain how dyslexia feels, told from the perspective of an inventive, mischievous kid. I loved how the main character's voice is so authentic and the story is funny and engaging -- you don't even realize you're learning an important lesson about how brains work differently, but after listening to the book, you'll have much better insight into dyslexia.

The audiobook narration brings the characters to life with emotion and spirit, and makes it easy to relate to the main character's perspective.

Highly recommended for kids, parents, and teachers!

This story gives a clear vignette into the life of a dyslexic grade school student. With my own experiences with having dyslexia, I can relate to the main character, “Case” and his troubles with certain subjects at school. Case’s challenges with school work and the lack of understanding what the cause is was very relatable.

It’s quite an accomplishment for this author to create a believable story where it is likely that most everyone can relate to some character, even if it is a character that thinks like an “Android” as it’s called in the story. I believe school administrators, educators and even parents/ siblings will learn quite a bit about how it is to live with and deal with dyslexia.

Recommended read. I’ll look for more titles by this author.