Debug This Book - by Omar Abed (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A little boy enlists the help of various people, including the most effective person of all--the reader--when he discovers a bug is sabotaging his story in this laugh-out-loud picture book perfect for fans of Press Here.

Cody has just written an exciting story on his computer that he'd love to share with the reader--a.k.a. you!--full of adventures and intrigue and--AACK! What's that? A bug? How did that get here? No worries, an exterminator is here to help! But wait, it's not that kind of bug. It's a code bug! It can't be fixed by an exterminator, a handyman, or even a farmer.

Luckily, a programmer appears, but even she can't debug the computer. She and Cody need help...from the reader! Maybe if the reader turns pages really slowly or really fast the bug can't keep up. Or if they read in a funny voice, the bug won't understand. Can Cody and the reader find a solution before catastrophic system failure?!

Review Quotes

*This lighthearted foray into debugging computer code uses the book itself as the device with the buggy code. Rowan-Zoch's clever illustrations demonstrate what happens when a bug gets into code and gets worse and worse. The text of the narrator's story starts to develop holes, slide off the page, and eventually turns to static. Words like "bug" and "fix" humorously summon people (e.g., an exterminator and a handyperson) whose skills do not quite match those needed to repair the issue. [...] Young readers will be charmed as they learn about, and get to participate in, the thought process behind debugging code in this involving tech tale. --Booklist, STARRED Review "06/01/2026"

About the Author

Omar Abed is the author of Debug This Book; You, Me, and a Tree; and The Book That Almost Rhymed. When he's not writing picture books, he's writing poetry and computer code. Omar lives with his family in northern Virginia, and you can find him on Instagram at @OmarAbedWrites.

Julie Rowan-Zoch is the illustrator of Stopping by Jungle on a Snowy Evening by Richard T. Morris, Debug This Book by Omar Abed, Not All Sheep Are Boring! by Bobby Moynihan, and Louis by Tom Lichtenheld, and is the author-illustrator of I'm a Hare, So There!. She grew up collecting freckles and chasing hermit crabs in New York and spent years slicing rich breads in Germany before waking up to 300 days of blue Colorado skies. Follow Julie on X @JulieRowanZoch and on Instagram @JRZoch.