SAMAIRA MEHTA: SAMA CRUSHES THE CODE

A young coder and author comes to Books Inc. in Alameda

Park Street is a good place for a book event. You can grab a snack nearby, wander into Books Inc., and settle into that calm bookstore feeling where kids, parents, and curious neighbors all end up in the same aisle.

On July 18, Books Inc. welcomes Samaira Mehta, a local author, student, and tech founder, for a celebration of her graphic novel Sama Crushes the Code.

The book follows a middle school student who loves coding and wants to find her place in Tech Club. There are coding ideas in the story, yes, but the heart of it is pretty familiar: trying something hard, feeling unsure, and looking for people who make you feel like you belong.

Samaira has a rare story of her own. She is 17, has created coding board games for kids, and has done research work tied to AI and health care. That gives this event a nice mix of book talk, real tech experience, and a clear message for young readers who are curious about building things.

This should be a good stop for families with kids who like graphic novels, puzzles, science, games, or computers. It is also a solid pick for anyone who wants to hear from a young creator who is already doing serious work while still keeping the door open for other kids to learn.

Where: Books Inc., 1344 Park St, Alameda

When: Saturday, July 18, 2026

Come for the author talk. Stay for the shelves, the Park Street stroll, and maybe a new book to take home.

Join Books Inc. Mountain View in welcoming local author, seventeen-year-old high school junior, and tech entrepreneur Samaira Mehta for a celebration of her loosely biographical graphic novel Sama Crushes the Code!About the book:Big-thinking Sama loves coding, but is she skilled enough to fit in at Tech Club? This is a playful and STEM-rich story inspired by the real life of its seventeen-year-old author.Sama’s starting middle school! Maybe Tech Club will be a good place to fit in. She’s into solving problems, building clever machines, and collecting beautiful data, plus her friend Nancy has given her a cool book on coding. But everyone at Tech Club is already so good at coding—will Sama’s contributions be enough for her to be included in the Code Crusher championship? Sama proposes a project to help a stressed-out bus driver develop a time-saving route, but the club leader thinks the coding isn’t complex enough. When Sama befriends new neighbor Zoe (who built her own hovercraft!), however, the two girls inspire each other, and soon Sama bounces back with a bunny-based board game that teaches kids how to code while having fun. Could this game be the key to getting to the championship? Precise coding vocabulary and examples are woven seamlessly into this lively story, based on the real-life computer science adventures of its author, young tech entrepreneur Samaira Mehta.Technical concepts such as functions, parallelism, and queues are interwoven throughout, emphasizing how coding can be used both creatively and in service of community needs. . . . The outcome is a refreshing series opener centered around inclusion and accessibility in STEM spaces.—Publishers WeeklyCoding language and functions enhance the narrative by introducing foundational coding concepts and highlighting Sama’s inventive problem-solving mindset. Sama emerges as a likable, resilient protagonist whose perseverance makes her journey both relatable and inspiring, while Alvarado’s playful artwork further engages readers through dynamic storytelling.—Booklist[A]n introductory exploration of coding applications. . . .—School Library JournalSamaira Mehta is a seventeen-year-old high school junior and tech entrepreneur, described by Time magazine as one of the eight young leaders shaping the decade. As the founder of CoderBunnyz, CoderMindz, and CoderMarz—board games that teach coding and AI—her work has reached 750,000 people. She is a researcher at UCLA’s Orsulic Lab, and her work on ovarian cancer detection and AI-driven healthcare solutions has been published in Nature. She has been featured on the Nasdaq billboard, in Vogue, and on the Today show, cementing her place as a rising innovator. As she prepares for college, Samaira Mehta is eager to explore human-centered computing, AI ethics, and the evolving relationship between technology and society. But above all, she remains committed to her mission: empowering the next generation to shape the future of technology.