Maaike and Imke van Putten’s delightful Python Illustrated follows innocent Wiesje on a journey to learn the secrets only Zia seems to know. The journey is long and filled with discoveries about Python as well as the ways Wiesje needs to adapt and grow.
No, you’re not reading a review of a new fiction title.
Unlike too many books on Python, this book features two cute animals on an exploration of the Python landscape. Zia the cat is knowledgeable, patient and crafty, while Wiesje the dog seems to be looking past Python to the doors new skills might open, described in Chapter 11, Next Steps.
The book is lavishly illustrated. Even the introduction to the terminal window relies on a hand-drawn image. In most books, a captured screen shot of a terminal window lacks any hint on where the reader is supposed to look. These well-executed drawings provide subtle visual emphases on what’s important and what’s background. The chapter on using the debugger benefits from many hand-drawn sketches of the various parts of the VS-code screen and what information each part presents.
Wiesje’s commentary on things that are difficult, or require a fresh cup of coffee are surprisingly helpful. When the Wiesje cartoon character wants to take a break, I found it was time for this reviewer to take a walk and come back to Python ready sniff out what’s new and different in the next section. As Zia reminds us, this isn’t easy, and we need to be patient.
The content is suitable for someone new to programming, or someone with limited experience who wants to learn Python. It covers a useful subset of the language; this includes almost all of the statements (except obscurities like the type and nonlocal statements.) It covers many of the most useful built-in data types: numbers, strings, booleans, and the list, tuple, and dictionary collections. Beyond merely covering these topics, the presentation has a sensible ordering. It makes tremendous sense for Zia to show Wiesje the for statement after presenting lists and dictionaries.
Any introduction to object-oriented programming is going to be filled with nuanced questions that are the subjects of endless disputes. For example, the decision between inheritance and composition, is a minefield of subtle traps and confusing choices. This book’s point is to expose the basics of classes and inheritance, providing a useful foundation for the reader to tackle more in-depth titles.
A topic that might deserve more coverage is creating virtual environments and adding libraries from PyPI. The book starts with instructions for installing Python. While virtual environments aren’t important for new learners, it seems prudent to suggest using tools like uv to install Python, manage virtual environments, and install new packages.
If you’re new to programming and interested in learning the most popular programming language, this book’s two guides, Zia and Wiesje will be very helpful. Their company is helpful, because — besides doing the exercises and taking the quizzes — you’ll be able to learn from Wiesje mistakes and Zia’s wise advice.
van Putten, Maaike, and Imke van Putten. Python Illustrated. Packt Publishing, 2026.