You Had Me at Hello World
Will be published approx. on 4. December 2025
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-1-5344-8851-9 (ISBN)
Description
Jenny Han meets Silicon Valley in this drama-packed debut young adult novel about a Chinese American teen who navigates a high-stakes coding competition, sabotage, and first love when she's invited to a summer hackathon at MIT.
Sixteen-year-old Charise "Char" Tang is desperate to ditch her dead-end small town. So when she's invited to a highly selective hackathon at MIT, she seizes the opportunity to jet across the country, spend the summer building an app, and maybe even snag the top prize-a golden ticket to a new life.
When she arrives, she teams up with Khoi Astor, coding wunderkind and creator of last year's biggest mobile game. Khoi, who has soft eyes and a gentle smile. Khoi, who can make anyone laugh. Khoi, who is easy to fall for...and already dating her camp roommate. If only Char could reprogram her heart to forget about him.
As the competition heats up, so do things between Char and her teammate. But sabotage lurks around every corner, and she soon discovers that the glitzy tech world has a dark, dangerous underbelly.
Sixteen-year-old Charise "Char" Tang is desperate to ditch her dead-end small town. So when she's invited to a highly selective hackathon at MIT, she seizes the opportunity to jet across the country, spend the summer building an app, and maybe even snag the top prize-a golden ticket to a new life.
When she arrives, she teams up with Khoi Astor, coding wunderkind and creator of last year's biggest mobile game. Khoi, who has soft eyes and a gentle smile. Khoi, who can make anyone laugh. Khoi, who is easy to fall for...and already dating her camp roommate. If only Char could reprogram her heart to forget about him.
As the competition heats up, so do things between Char and her teammate. But sabotage lurks around every corner, and she soon discovers that the glitzy tech world has a dark, dangerous underbelly.
Reviews / Votes
"Debut author Wang's blunt yet relatable rendering of Char's small-town life makes for an easy-to-root-for protagonist. Throughout the teen's varied conflicts, frank language attentively outlines IRL issues faced by aspiring tech professionals-particularly by people of color, women, and immigrants-as they struggle to enter the contemporary workforce." -Publishers WeeklyMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Simon & Schuster
Target group
Young adult
US School Grade: Seventh Grade and over, Interest Age: From 12 to 99 years
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
f-c matte jacket (spfx: spot gloss, dome emboss)
Dimensions
Height: 211 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
386 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5344-8851-9 (9781534488519)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Rona Wang
You Had Me at Hello World
E-Book
11/2025
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
€10.87
Available for download
Person
Rona Wang graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2023 with degrees in mathematics and computer science. She grew up in Oregon and currently bounces between San Francisco and New York City. You Had Me at Hello World is her debut novel.