Karlie Kloss Wrote An Adorable Children’s Book About Coding

Karlie Kloss is a supermodel, entrepreneur and philanthropist behind the non-profit Kode with Klossy, and she even owns a few beloved magazine companies. Now she can add children' s book author to that list. Her new book, Spaghetti Code, is out this week and is all about, you guessed it, coding.

It’s a sweet book about dreaming big, problem solving, and belief in yourself, with a huge heaping side of yummy literal spaghetti (spaghetti code is a common term used to describe indecipherable software code). Scary Mommy got the chance to talk with Kloss about the book, Kode with Klossy, and what she and her kids are reading these days.

Scary Mommy: You learned how to code a while ago and started Kode with Klossy. What do you hope young girls take away from the book?

Karlie Kloss: This is our 11th summer of programs for Kode with Klossy. It's kind of surreal when I stop and think about that, but I initially started the organization because I wanted other young women to experience what I had experienced, which was a coding boot camp that opened my eyes to the fact that coding... is a language, and it does not need to be overly intimidating, but really can be a language that you can use to bring ideas to life. It can be very creative.

Fast forward to writing this book, I wanted a touch point that could reach young women even earlier than our camps and our programs do. We have year-round programming for 13- to 18-year-old young people around the world, but I really wanted to have something for their younger siblings that they could start to sort of see characters and stories that embody the same spirit of our scholars. That's really what this book is all about.

Kelly Kent is the star of our book. She's the heroine who uses her coding superpowers to save the day and to help a small business owner in town. And genuinely, this spirit, and also this idea, is very much not dissimilar from the real-life scholars and the real-life heroes in our community who use their coding superpowers to be active in their communities and to build ideas that can help other people or build small businesses. The reason why I wanted to write the book was because I wanted to sort of tell this story for a younger audience.

SM: I also love Kelly's name, because it's alliterative like yours. Like, I'm assuming that was intentional. It's just very sweet.

KK: Thank you. It’s a very sweet name. I have three sisters, and we are all KK.

SM: I am fascinated by parents who do this for their children.

KK: Honestly, it was a real commitment. My parents were way ahead of the trend. 
I don't think they knew about the Kardashians back in the '90s when they were naming us all. But we are all KKs.

SM: Did you get called all your sisters’ names growing up?

KK: Oh, my grandma still calls me the wrong name... I now have three children, and I find I do the same thing, and none of them have the same letters. So I get it. Mom brain is real. It's totally real.

SM: What inspires you most about Kelly?

KK: That spirit of being active in her community, and wanting to help this small business owner in town, Mr. Amato, grow his business. I think that sort of entrepreneurial spirit, and just that, like, generosity that I see so much of through the projects that our scholars build.

SM: What are some of your favorite children’s books that you've read to your kids and what are some favorites of theirs?

KK: Anything that has to do with food, which I realized is a central theme when I was looking at our bookshelves. My kids love If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, and that whole series, big fan. And then, of course, the classics, Dr. Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham. I think I could recite it by heart.

My son just turned 5, my oldest, and so now we're really into, like, deeper, longer stories, which I'm really enjoying as a mom. I have a 3-year-old, a 5-year-old, and a 10-month-old.

SM: You're in it, yeah.

KK: 
I mean, I'm so in it, and I often find it's, like, OK, we have time for one book ... how can I read one book that's gonna sort of actually reach, specifically, my older two boys in different ways? And my older son, my 5-year-old, is now learning how to read, and so it's actually— he picks up on things that then my 3-year-old is really just looking at the visuals, and is listening deeply.

That's what's been actually really fun about Spaghetti Code, is that coding principles are probably not registering yet for my 3-year-old. But they will. But, he loves this giant spaghetti machine, and the idea that, like, this big machine with a massive tomato on top can, like, magically make all of the pasta dreams come to life. I started this book project before I even had my first kid. That's how long it's been in the works.

SM: So do you have time to read yourself? 
Are you just in kids' book land?

KK: I am totally in Kid Bookland, but I do love audiobooks. I find that when I'm in transit for work, that's when I just like devour audiobooks. I am so late to this party, but Good Inside by Dr. Becky. I definitely have found a lot of helpful insights from her. And I am reading more just for fun, totally nothing to do with mom, I’m reading Theo of Golden.

SM: Oh, that’s on my TBR right now!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.