Build Your First Interactive Web Apps, Step by Step

Read before you buy: the PDF here is a free sample — the first 20 pages of the 500-page book (payments, sales and reviews on this demo site are sample data). Get the full e-book at thenexbooks on Gumroad.

Learn React from the very beginning — by building a real app.

Many React tutorials assume you already know modern JavaScript, the command line, and a pile of tools. This book doesn't. It starts with installing Node.js and VS Code, teaches the JavaScript React relies on, and then adds one idea at a time: components, props, lists, events, state, forms, effects, data fetching, routing, and context. Every idea is used right away in Whisker Haven Adopt, a web app for a small animal shelter that grows chapter by chapter into a complete project you can show off.

• 500 pages · 28 chapters + 4 appendices
• For complete beginners — basic HTML and CSS is all you need
• One continuous project: search and filters, favorites, a pet details page, and more
• Set up with Vite, plus the JavaScript you need: arrow functions, destructuring, spread, map, and filter
• Components, JSX, props, lists and keys, conditional rendering, and styling
• Events, useState, controlled forms, and lifting state up
• useEffect, fetching data, loading and error states, localStorage, custom hooks, and useReducer
• Multiple pages with React Router, context, refs, debugging, and testing with Vitest
• Two projects: a multi-step adoption application and a volunteer shift planner
• Building and deploying your app, plus a clear path to TypeScript and Next.js

Table Of Contents

Part I — Getting Ready

• Ch 1 · What Is React, and Why Learn It?
• Ch 2 · Setting Up: Node.js, VS Code, and Your First React App
• Ch 3 · The JavaScript You Need for React, Part 1
• Ch 4 · The JavaScript You Need for React, Part 2
• Ch 5 · Your First Component and JSX

Part II — Components and Props

• Ch 6 · Building a UI from Components
• Ch 7 · Props: Passing Data to Components
• Ch 8 · Rendering Lists and Conditional Content
• Ch 9 · Styling React Apps

Part III — State and Interactivity

• Ch 10 · Handling Events
• Ch 11 · State with useState
• Ch 12 · Forms and Controlled Inputs
• Ch 13 · Lifting State Up and Sharing Data
• Ch 14 · Project: The Pet Adoption Browser

Part IV — Effects and Data

• Ch 15 · useEffect Explained Simply
• Ch 16 · Fetching Data from an API
• Ch 17 · Loading, Errors, and Empty States
• Ch 18 · Saving Data with localStorage and Custom Hooks
• Ch 19 · Managing Complex State with useReducer

Part V — Growing Your App

• Ch 20 · Multiple Pages with React Router
• Ch 21 · Sharing Data with Context
• Ch 22 · Refs, Focus, and Working with the DOM
• Ch 23 · Debugging React Apps
• Ch 24 · Testing Your Components

Part VI — Projects and Next Steps

• Ch 25 · Project: A Multi-Step Adoption Application Form
• Ch 26 · Project: The Volunteer Shift Planner
• Ch 27 · Building and Deploying Your App
• Ch 28 · Next Steps: TypeScript, Next.js, and Keep Building

Appendices

• App A · React Cheat Sheet
• App B · JavaScript Refresher and Project Starter Files
• App C · Checklists
• App D · Glossary

WHO IT IS FOR
Complete beginners to React who know basic HTML and CSS, students and self-taught learners, designers and career changers who want to turn layouts into working apps, and developers from other fields who want a gentle, practical introduction.

FORMAT
PDF (A4), 500 pages, English, clickable table of contents and PDF bookmarks. 1st Edition, 2026. Published by thenexbooks. Not affiliated with Meta Platforms, Inc.

Book details