Goodnight Server Room (Board Book)

Goodnight Server Room is a children's book about computers and data written for kids ages one to five. Printing is in progress and shipping is expected October to December of 2017.

I am a software engineer. I'm also a father who loves reading to his kids. They have piles and piles of books about trucks, animals, and trains - lots of fun and interesting topics and stories about hard working people, but nothing about what their dad does all day.

I searched for kids books about my computers and came up empty handed, so I wrote this book. Goodnight Server Room is a lighthearted exploration of computer terms, written to be pleasant to read the hundredth time as it is the first time.

Goodnight Server Room is written in verse in the tradition of the great children's books that came before it, notably Goodnight Moon and Goodnight Construction Site. Following in their style, Goodnight Server Room meanders through a whirring world of computers, pausing on each page to introduce a new word or concept.

Data are a running theme in Goodnight Server Room. After all, computers are really just engines for data.

Goodnight Server Room presents data in a non-technical light, illustrating two key concepts:
- Data (bits/bytes/packets/etc) are composable. Packets are made of bytes, bytes are made of bits.
- Data are the most important things in computers. They carry the messages, store the pictures, and tell the computer what to do.

I recruited Emily Krueger to illustrate this project. Her background is in art and her focus is in organics - trees, animals, moss - the soft, approachable things of the world. If I'd set out to illustrate this book myself, it would have ended up looking like a textbook for two year olds.

Together Emily and I took the rigid world of computers and softened the lines. We let data be silly and fun. This is not a study guide. This is a playful romp through a server that will introduce some new words and give moms and dads a good chuckle.

Server room where data zoom

Your admin team will be back soon

Keep working hard to send each byte

Keep blinking bright, all through the night

Thanks!