Lucky winners at draws and great feedback for the book

Last week I participated in Mimmit koodaa (women code) program's This is Not a Webinar where two of my Finnish Dragons Out! books were prizes in a book draw. The event was most inspiring also for a man - it was great to see equal opportunities rising for women to participate in the Information and Communication Technology field. Through great examples, it becomes a norm that it doesn't make a difference what gender you are in the ICT field. I'm happy to give one more example with my book's characters which are equally represented. I even start the book with a little girl as the main heroine.

I'm happy to congratulate Heidi Särkioja and Katri-Maija Karvonen for winning the book prizes! And thanks to my publisher Avain for giving these books, too!

Another item I would like to raise in this blog post is the conclusion from the feedback survey that I ran this winter/spring among those who preordered Finnish books and among the Finnish schools that received donated books. 

The average rating for the book from the preordering folks was a baffling 4,38 out of 5 stars. People like the book! The most liked features of the book were 1. the story 2. the dragons 3. description of the ICT world in general 4. characters. Most think it would be also a great idea to make a learning game from the book theme! Most have recommended the book to many people, and some have even recommended it to parent's associations. I'll pick one open comment: "Fantastic idea, story, illustration, and implementation!" Still, the most heart-warming comment came verbally from my friend's son, who had read the book by himself and announced immediately afterwards that he wants to be a tester when he grows up. Now my friend wants to read it, too! Tears in my eyes... Mission accomplished!

The average rating for the book from teachers was 4,22 out of 5 stars. They very much liked it! The most liked features of the book were 1. the dragons 2. the story 3. exercises in the book 4. description of the ICT world in general. The book has been read mostly in ICT / coding classes but also in robotics, math, game design, mother tongue, natural sciences, and art classes. About two-thirds of the book reading/usage has been in class situations and the rest at other times. Everyone has either shown or is planning to show the free presentation coming with the book! Still, the presentation could be of a little bit better quality - I'll take the advice and update the recording shortly (now I have a better PowerPoint template and a proper recording studio). Most like the idea of the learning game. Most have recommended the book to many other teachers. There's also plenty of interest for me to be a guest lecturer at schools and to organize a train-the-teacher session for the teachers. Super - many things to do! I'll pick one open comment: "A well-made book that has received interest from all the other teachers who I have told about it!" 

Lessons learned - thank you all!

The feedback survey prizes were two of my books - the lucky winners are Pia Ström and Sanna Jyrinki. Congratulations!