Py and the Secrets of Thon: A Fun First Adventure in Python

How to Use This Book in the Classroom

• Read the Book Outloud: Read the story to students like a traditional read-aloud. Let them enjoy the adventure without focusing too much on coding at first. Afterwards, ask simple questions to gauge their understanding: What did Pip have to learn in order to communicate with Py? Why didn’t Py understand regular sentences?
• Explore Python Syntax Through the Story: Encourage students to examine how Pip had to structure her commands correctly—using lowercase letters, underscores instead of spaces, and parentheses at the end. Have them compare this to real Python syntax. Ask: What would happen if Pip wrote the command incorrectly? How is this similar to writing code on a computer?
• Flip the Classroom: Have small groups read the book together and present their takeaways to the class. They might create a diagram showing how Py "translates" Pip’s instructions, draw a scene where a command goes wrong due to a missing parenthesis, or prepare a short slideshow explaining why computers need precise instructions.
• Hands-On Python Activities: Plan additional lessons where students write simple function names based on real-life situations on the board. For example, create Python-style commands for daily routines like east_snack(5), start_math(), or play_game(30).

Helping Kids See the Power of Python

Py and the Secrets of Thon introduces readers to the foundational ideas behind how computers understand and follow instructions. In coding, programs don’t think for themselves—they rely on carefully written commands to tell them exactly what to do. Python, like all programming languages, has specific rules and structures that must be followed for those commands to work.

In the story, Pip learns that Py can only understand instructions when written in a precise format—lowercase words, underscores instead of spaces, and parentheses at the end. This mirrors how Python functions work in real code. A command like open_door() makes sense to Py, but a vague request like "Open the door" does not, highlighting a core principle of programming: computers only follow instructions when they are written correctly.

As Pip explores the temple, she also discovers the power of libraries—collections of specialized tools that let programmers do more without writing everything from scratch. By importing the time library, she’s able to use time.sleep(3600) to pause the golem, just like programmers use time functions to delay actions in real Python code.

At Tiny Tales, Big Ideas, we believe that breaking big concepts into playful stories helps young learners see coding as an extension of problem-solving, logic, and creativity. Py and the Secrets of Thon brings these programming fundamentals to life, showing that by following simple rules—just like Pip did—anyone can unlock the secrets of coding.

Questions that turn this tiny tale into a big idea

1. Why did Pip need to be so careful with the way she wrote commands for Py?
2. How is talking to Py like giving instructions to a computer?
3. Why did spaces have to be replaced with underscores in commands like open_door()?
4. What would happen if Pip forgot the parentheses at the end of a command?
5. What do you think would have happened if Pip wrote time.sleep(1000) instead?
6. Computers can follow instructions very fast, but only if we write them correctly. Why do you think programmers have to be so precise?
7. Now that you know some of Py’s rules, how do you think real Python code is used to solve problems?